Decent cooking without an oven

Pixellated · 1 Sep 2011 at 19:47

I just moved to London, and am now living in a tiny shoebox. As you might notice from the photo, I've got no oven: just a couple of hobs, a microwave, and I went out and got a George Foreman too.

What are your favourite proper-meals to do without a real oven? I'm kind of fed up with pasta+sauces, rice+curry.

Rizo-UK · 1 Sep 2011 at 19:49

Steak on the george and get a chip pan for the hob.

Steak and Chips

Scam · 1 Sep 2011 at 20:00

Why do steak on the GF if he's got a hob? Those things just boil meat. You'd get far better results from a frying pan.

I guess you're look at meat and two veg, really. Pork chops with mash and veg, sausages and mash, fish and new potatoes etc.. makes a change from rice/pasta.

Out of interest where is that and how much do you pay? It's rather, err, compact! Would you not prefer to share a house? You get far more for your money.

aceface57 · 1 Sep 2011 at 20:03

Buy a fancy microwave with inbuilt grill and oven? That is a tiny flat!
Proper meal ideas though,
Risotto,
paella,
omelette.
There's heaps though

Semple · 1 Sep 2011 at 20:08

I didn't know you could have a shower bed and kitchen all in the same room. Wheres the toilet?

Raymond Lin · 1 Sep 2011 at 20:18

Learn to cook a lot of oriental dishes, Chinese, Thai, Japanese.

No need for an oven.

Natwee · 1 Sep 2011 at 21:00

Raymond Lin said:
Learn to cook a lot of oriental dishes, Chinese, Thai, Japanese.

No need for an oven.

Unless you want to bake a cake!!

Pixellated · 1 Sep 2011 at 21:03

Semple said:
I didn't know you could have a shower bed and kitchen all in the same room. Wheres the toilet?

Shared by a few other flats in the hall, same as the washing machine.

And to Scam, I'm in Kensington, paying £120 a week (all bills inc). I had to get a place in a single day trip down since I was starting a job here in a week, but it's only ten minutes' walk from where I work: as far as I'm concerned it's a steal; I've not really much need for a massive space.

Natwee · 1 Sep 2011 at 21:05

Pixellated said:
Shared by a few other flats in the hall, same as the washing machine.

And to Scam, I'm in Kensington, paying £120 a week (all bills inc). I had to get a place in a single day trip down since I was starting a job here in a week, but it's only ten minutes' walk from where I work: as far as I'm concerned it's a steal; I've not really much need for a massive space.

Omg what a rip off!

Raymond Lin · 1 Sep 2011 at 21:29

Natwee said:
Unless you want to bake a cake!!

Lol, now you understand why:-

1 - loves jelly
2 - makes My own ice cream
3 - suck at baking

My oven has been broken for th past 2 years

Raymond Lin · 1 Sep 2011 at 21:32

Actually, you don't want to be frying a lot of stuff in your room, after a week it will stink of fat and all the surfaces will be a mix of oils and dust.

Start loving soup and salads

Pixellated · 1 Sep 2011 at 22:08

Natwee said:
Omg what a rip off!

You might say that, but all the other places I saw in that day were smaller, and were £150 a week. Plus being so close to work means I'm saving a fiver and a whole bunch of time every day not having to commute.

But then again, I wince when I think that in Nottingham I was paying £65 a week for a massive shared house. -_-

Tribune · 1 Sep 2011 at 22:30

You could try one of those mini ovens - about the same size as a microwave.

OpenToSuggestions · 1 Sep 2011 at 22:34

OP: I would avoid frying as it will stink out the flat and make the room greasy.

Greasy bed and PC does not equal win.

vicisthebest · 1 Sep 2011 at 22:52

Pixellated said:
You might say that, but all the other places I saw in that day were smaller, and were £150 a week. Plus being so close to work means I'm saving a fiver and a whole bunch of time every day not having to commute.

But then again, I wince when I think that in Nottingham I was paying £65 a week for a massive shared house. -_-

I pay less for a 2-bed semi with 2 big gardens, conservatory, driveway and garage. But I guess it's what you get when you live in London!

The idea that you could make a coffee while still being in bed does appeal to my other half though

There's allsorts you can do on hobs - stir fries, casseroles, one of my personal favourites is a nice tagine which you can do on a low light on a hob as easily as you can do it in the oven.

http://www.channel4.com/4food/recipes/chefs/jamie-oliver/beef-tagine-recipe

or as you don't have much prep space, I LOVE this one, ready done and really tasty:

Razor-BladE · 1 Sep 2011 at 23:05

Get yourself a slow cooker. Simple to use, small, don't need to spend time cooking if you have a busy day ahead, healthy, etc. You can do so much with them and apparently the food tastes great.
I still need to get myself one of them...

Putty · 2 Sep 2011 at 10:13

Razor-BladE said:
Get yourself a slow cooker. Simple to use, small, don't need to spend time cooking if you have a busy day ahead, healthy, etc. You can do so much with them and apparently the food tastes great.
I still need to get myself one of them...

Now that's a good idea - especially if you want to cook casseroles and the like. As others have said there's no way I'd do any frying in that room - it would be like sleeping in the kitchen of a greasy spoon.

Mr Jack · 2 Sep 2011 at 10:28

mglover070588 said:
OP: I would avoid frying as it will stink out the flat and make the room greasy.

+1

I also second the fancy microwave idea. Microwaves with perfectly decent convection components are not that hard to come by.

monkeyspank · 2 Sep 2011 at 12:59

I've got one of those combi microwaves at work, a Panasonic one, and it does loads of stuff really well. Was about £120 IIRC

Pixellated · 2 Sep 2011 at 13:02

A lot of people here and elsewhere recommending slow cookers, might go with that. Seems you can do a massive joint of meat and then save the leftovers for good sandwiches =D