Food Query - Oven Substitute

jessicamb

Hi

Sorry if this is the wrong place to post, please feel free to move it somewhere else if more appropriate.

Last night my oven went on the blink. At the moment I really cant afford to replace it and I think the repair costs would be too high (it is a bit old and came with the house when I bought it). I have a whole range of other appliances that do work that I think can replace most of the things I would cook in the oven:

A microwave
The hob still works
A George Fornby grill
The grill on the oven still seems to be working at the moment.
A deep fat fryer (really healthy I know)
breadmaker

Most of the things I can guess at cooking elsewhere but does anybody have any ideas for the following:

Pizza (thinking I can grill this but any tips?)
Baked pasta dishes such as lasagne
roast potatoes
garlic bread (the frozen baguette kind)

Or any ideas on how to get the most out of my new "substitutes"

All suggestions welcome.

Many Thanks

Jessica

SnowyOwl_2

Hello

I'm as useful as a chocolate teapot in the kitchen however I do know that your George Foreman grill is fab for doing garlic bread. It's exceptionally easy to make your own, and loads cheaper - though I think I'd bung the frozen one in to see what happens. Anyway, just crush a clove of garlic then beat it into some butter, spread over a slice of bread - you can put some cheese in if you like, but make sure the fillings are a little bit away from the edge to avoid leakage, put another slice of bread on top, and put in the George Foreman for about five mins (but check it before five mins are up). It's gorgeous!!

Regards pizza - is it a home made one or a pre-made one? You would need to cook the base, so I'd say put it in a big frying pan to cook the underneath, then transfer to the grill to do the top. Sorry, I haven't actually done this before, but I think it'd be the way to makes sure it's heated right through.

For roast potatoes the closest you'd get (I think, though I am a bit of a dunce) is to boil some spuds, then dry them off, and then shallow fry them until they are brown and warmed through. They might be closer to chips this way though...??

I don't know what to suggest about things such as lasagne - probably the microwave, then brown the top in the grill.

Hopefully some of the kitchen geniuses will be along in a while to give you better advice than I can offer.

jessicamb

Thanks Snowy Owl

The situation isnt as bad as I first thought now. My dad came round and had a look and its just the element thats gone. A quick search on the internet and I've found a new one for 20 quid so I should only have to go without for a couple of weeks.

I'll be putting the tips into practice though in the meantime.

BTW - pizza is normally a ready made base and home made toppings.

Yikes

jessicamb wrote:

Hi

Sorry if this is the wrong place to post, please feel free to move it somewhere else if more appropriate.

Last night my oven went on the blink. At the moment I really cant afford to replace it and I think the repair costs would be too high (it is a bit old and came with the house when I bought it). I have a whole range of other appliances that do work that I think can replace most of the things I would cook in the oven:

A microwave
The hob still works
A George Fornby grill
The grill on the oven still seems to be working at the moment.
A deep fat fryer (really healthy I know)
breadmaker

Hi Jessica,

The fact that the hob and grill still work suggests to me that it's just a problem with the oven element (assuming it's electric, but the same principle holds for gas). It really shouldn't be too terribly much to get a new element. If it's electric, it could even be something as simple as a fuse. I'd check out the simpler possibilities before assuming your oven is a write-off.

One thing you could do for roasting/baking might be to use the grill, but wedge the door open a bit so that the temperature doesn't get too high. It's a bit of a waste of electricity (or gas), but it could serve once in a while. Put foil (shiny side out) over whatever you're cooking, and put it as close to the bottom of the oven as you can, so it doesn't get too hot, too quickly, from the top side. I'd experiment with something small, first, to see if this works well for you -- no sense ruining a giant lasagne on the first go!

HTH

jessicamb

Thanks Yikes - it was the element! New one ordered so I shouldnt be without for too long.

System

Ooh, i never thought of trying roasties on the hob, am going to give it a whirl tomorrow as i hate using the whole oven when theres just a couple of us to cater for.

joey-lou

Roast potatoes are also done in some restaraunts by par boiling them and then finished off in the deep fat fryer.These are more like frozen roasties (not as nice as trad oven baked but ok for an emergency)

r.mac_2

hiya, sorry to hear about your oven.

Lasagne etc should be able to be done in teh microwave, although times will vary form appliance to appliance - ahve you teh instruction manual for yours?

again, many microwaves have grills in them too - apprantly mine does although i have never used it!!!! That helps brown cheese etc.

Roast potatoes could be done on a hob as can things like casseroles.
agreeing with snowy owl, the garic bread could be 'toasted' on teh george foreman grill (perhaps a defrosting blastin the microwave first might help??

HTH