Halogen oven recipes: Making brunch with Andrew
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Kitchen equipment, Snacks Breakfast Lunch | 25 comments
Photo: Andrew our Halogen oven
“What do you think of breakfast?”
“It’s not nearly as good as yesterday. Are they the same sausages? They taste cheap.”
We’ve had Andrew around for a few weeks now. He always makes us weekend brunch with delicious results. This morning he was busy defrosting a chicken so I had to use the conventional grill (broiler) on our old oven to prepare the sausages and homemade bacon. It was a palaver – I had to keep on pulling out the grill tray to turn the sausages – in Andrew you can see what’s going on in the giant glass bowl, so nothing gets overcooked by mistake.
Using the same brand of sausages and the same home cured bacon as yesterday, I produced a brunch that was OK but nothing like the tastiness of brunch cooked in Andrew. This proved to us once and for all that the method that Andrew uses to cook food really brings out the flavour. As he uses a fan system the food cooks from above and below so there’s only the need to turn the sausages once. Even the cardboardy frozen hash browns that D likes become golden, and almost edible, in Andrew.
We are trying to use Andrew as much as we can and are planning to develop a series of recipes for halogen ovens as soon as possible. Meanwhile here are the timings for a brunch with frozen hash browns, mushrooms, tomatoes, well cooked sausages and bacon.
Andrew’s halogen oven brunch for two
Ingredients:
4 frozen hash browns
4 good quality breakfast sausages
4 rashers of bacon
4 mushrooms sliced fine
Small knob of butter
2 large tomatoes (halved)
4 eggs
Method:
No need to preheat oven.
Place the sliced mushroom in a small oven proof dish or foil saucer with the knob of butter. Put the dish on the lowest wire tray. Put the hash browns directly over the mushrooms on the taller tray. Set the oven to 225c/437f for 5 minutes.
Turn over the hash browns. Put in the sausages, and the tomatoes. Turn the temperature down to 200c/390f for 10 minutes. When the time is up turn the sausages and add the bacon. Set the oven timer for a further 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, make the toast and fry the eggs in the noraml way on the stove top, timing them to be ready at the same time as Andrew. I’m now going to try cooking the eggs in Andrew as well but I need to experiment a bit with that.
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Have used my Andrew to cook a chicken, Its absolutely brilliant. The chicken came out crisp and golden brown. Very impressed , I dont think my normal oven will get used again!!!.
The book that came with it is superb, I am going to give the Orange Cup-Cakes Topped with Fluffy Cream Icining a go (page 109 in the Andrew James Halogen book)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003BUZGGO/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&seller=
I’ll let you know how I get on
WE BOUGHT OUR JML HALOGEN AND HAVE NOT STOPPED USING IT.WE COOK FULL CHICKENS IN IT AND THEY ARE PERFECT EVERYTIME. OUR ROAST POTATOS ARE PART BOILED THEN I SPRAY FRYLIGHT INTO THE BOWL THEN ADD THE POTATOS AND SPRAY THEM ALSO,45 MINS AT 220 AND THEY COME OUT PERFECT…
Hi Gilly
We love our Andrew! Danny cooked superb roast beef and roast potatoes in him on Sunday and we use him a lot.
Hi
Just read your reviews and ordered an Andrew. It now comes with a 128 page book
Cant wait for it to arrive !!!
Well… I had a £20 Amazon discount voucher, which was burning a hole in my pocket… so what with the low offer price of £54 (incl the extras) already available, I thought I would splash out. £34 ( P&P)lighter in pocket, I now have my own Andrew, just delivered. I’m going to have to try him out (just so I know he works OK) soon, but then he’ll be moth-balled for the summer when we turn off the Aga. I’m quite excited – Sunday brunch for 3, I think?
Cross your fingers for me…
Hello Steelkitten
Yes I’ve heard that the Remoska is good. Andrew is great as you can see clearly what is going on through the glass and is cheaper than the Remoska. Although in the long term the Remoska would save much more on electricity.
Hi Jackie
I put the sausages on the higher rack – straight on the bars.
Hi Casalba
So far I’ve used it for pies with pastry toppings, brunch, roasted vegetables, great roast potatoes. We’ve tried roasting a chicken in it twice with rather disappointing results (Danny reckons we need to roast one in a foil parcel like we do in the conventional oven). Baked spuds are good too.
Hi Barbara
Thanks very much for this feedback on the Remoska and the recipe link.
Hi Jo
Our cooker is a real electricity guzzler so Andrew is saving us money. Unfortunately he hasn’t started giving us foot rubs (yet!)
Hi Paul
That’s interesting. We found that foil is a must with Andrew to stop things burning.
Our chickens have lacked depth of flavour so we are going to enclose them in foil from now on. When we cooked our roasties with the chicken they didn’t crisp up well but when I did them on their own (parboiled and tossed in goose fat) they were delicious. I cooked them on the metal chip tray, on the lowest rack.
We are going for standard heat and timings ATM too.
Hi Maria
Yes we’ve used Andrew to cook ready meals and it’s worked well. He also does good oven chips. Haven’t tried pizza yet but I’m sure that he’d do them fine.
Hi Suzie
I must experiment with timings a bit more. I think baked potatoes are much tastier baked in Andrew.
Hi Tamar
I wasn’t a gadget person until I started cooking in earnest. Both the dehydrator and Andrew have been good buys for us as they are saving us money.
Now where did I put that tractor catalogue…
Hi Cookie_Girl
No we don’t usually christen our utensils. But Andrew kind of suits this little fellow!
Hi Pamela
I’m a bit envious of your Remoska! I agree it’s interesting hearing the feedback on people’s Andrews.
Hi Casalba
We did a roast chicken in the slow cooker for the first time last Sunday. Flavour superb but a bit over cooked. I did the roast potatoes in Andrew and they were perfect. You can also cook vegetables in foil parcels in Andrew. I tried cooking some calabrese in foil along with a pie last night. It took forever but as the pie needed 45 mins that was fine.
Hi Jackie
Andrew came with his own extender ring and I agree, once I worked out what it was I began to get better results using this.
Greetings to Cooper!
Just to add my twopennyworth.
I have found much better results since buying the extender rim. Fabulous roast potatoes where before they were likely to catch and go a little bit black on the edges. I feel that the extra 2-3″ further away from the heating element gives me more control, plus i can fit two layers of food in more comfortably.
Mine is not an Andrew, by the way. Mine is a Coopers of Stortford.
I shall now have to christen mine Cooper!
Jackie
So, it does great sausages and bacon and it cooks a mean jacket potato, but I don’t have a microwave! Can Andrew make them on his own? Even more curious to find out if he does roast potatoes – and if they are as good as oven cooked ones? Sorry for all the questions, I’m nearly there. Could he cope with all the vegetables to accompany a roast that has been cooked in the slow cooker? For 2? For 4? …
I have a standard size Remoska – bought when I was teaching full time and could afford such purchases – and I love it. I have just discovered that if I bake a potato in the microwave for 5 or 6 mins, depending on the size or number of potatoes, then give it 15 mins in the Remoska with a bit of butter melted on the skin, a sprinkle of herbs and some salt, I swear it rivals my mum’s Aga baked potatoes. It is interesting reading other people’s thoughts on the halogen ovens, finding out what works and doesn’t without having to go through the pain of doing it for yourself.
I’ve never seen one of these before! Why Andrew? Do you name all of your utensils?