Great culinary feats can still be achieved, even if you only have a microwave in your office kitchen
FOREVER associated with the processed, the prepackaged and the unsophisticated, the microwave gets a bad rep within foodie circles. The microwave meal has come to symbolise everything that’s wrong with today’s food culture.
They make our cooking easy and unhealthy, fast and fatty, and facilitate our tendency to prioritise convenience over care, The way that they cook food removes any skill or sleight of hand from the cooking process. In cooking, an area of human activity governed by the simplest of ancient principals – man heat food, man eat food – the microwave is an inscrutable object. How on earth does it do that? How does it turn soup from tepid to molten in two minutes? Why, when you accidentally put a piece of tin foil in there, does it spark and hiss like a malfunctioning robot? Something about it just doesn’t seem right. You would do well to abandon these prejudices, though, for ingenious things can be done with this ingenious machine.
Forget pot noodle and supermarket chicken kormas; used in the right way a microwave can be a useful tool in your journey to culinary sophistication. Take bacon. Crispiness is not something anyone would associate with a foodstuff’s life post-microwave, but believe it or not, crispy bacon can be done à la radiation. So can cake. Yes, cake can be made in a microwave.
In many offices, the microwave is the sole piece of cooking equipment in the kitchen – here we present five unexpected meals that can be made using only a microwave.
Sweet potato and parsnip chips
These sweet-potato and parsnip chips are the perfect for desk-nibbling. Just toss some thinly sliced potato and parsnip in a bowl with some olive oil, a small crushed garlic clove, some dried herbs of your choice and half a tea-spoon of salt. Then place on some grease-proof paper and put in the microwave. Nuke them on full power for 2-3 mins until they start to go brown. Turn them, and carry on microwaving for 3 minutes more. Remove, allow to cool and you’re done.
Salmon fillet
A lovely fresh fillet of fish? In the microwave? Yes, you heard right. The microwave is actually a great way of keeping the fillet moist, as long as you don’t over do it. Try rubbing a mix of soy sauce, ginger, garlic and chilli into your salmon, wrap with cling film and cook on full power for 3-5 minutes, depending on how big the fillet is and how you like it cooked. Check that it’s done before eating, and voila. Delicious.
Mac’ and cheese in a cup
Who can resist the heavenly cheesey, pasta-y mush that is mac’ and cheese? With this easy microwavable version you’ll have to call on even deeper reserves of will power not to eat it all the time. Cover a cup of macaroni with water and cook on full power for 8 mins, pausing to stir on after min 2 and 5. When al dente, mix in an (un)healthy amount of your favourite cheese. Microwave again for 30 secs, or 60 if not completely melted.
Crispy bacon
Think it’s impossible to crisp something in the microwave? Try this trick. Put some streaky rashers on top of an up-turned bowl placed on a plate. Microwave on full power for one minute per rasher. The fat runs down the side of the bowl, making this method a relatively healthy way of eating one of the least healthy foods around. A tip: place kitchen roll on top to stop greasy bubbling fat exploding around the side of your microwave.
“Roasted” garlic
Okay, so this isn’t the most sociable microwave snack in the world (chewing gum at the ready, folks) but who can resist the taste of garlic mellowed by heat. Bisect two whole garlic bulbs, exposing the cloves. Place in a dish, drizzle with olive oil and pour 1.5 tbsps of water per bulb into the dish. Microwave on half power for periods of 3 mins. After 2 lots of 3 mins, check the garlic. Microwave for intervals of 1 minute until soft. Add to dressings, pasta sauces or spread on toast if you’re brave.