A novel oven alternative.
Feb. 5th, 2007 09:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
changelingToday was hot, yet I wanted to have stuffed (roast) capsicums. Using the oven on Hot Days is verboten in this house (understandable, I know). So, what to do?
What I did was bake them. I created no extra heat, and used no extra electricity or gas.
I baked them in my car. I cut 'em open, bunged in a little garlic (pretty much exactly as I would for an oven), placed them on a deep-ish oven tray, and put another tray over the top as a "lid". I made sure the lid was a dark colour, in order to soak up as much heat as possible. Then I put them on the ledge beneath my rear window, and left them there for about 2 1/2 to 3 hours. That's longer than I'd use for an oven (which would be about 20–30 minutes, considering these were small capsicums), but of course, they were cooking at a much lower temperature. It got pretty hot in there, though. I had to grab a fabric bag to carry them safely inside again, perfectly cooked*.
I'm actually feeling pretty smug. It's nice to be able to take advantage of my car's natural ability to heat up beyond all reason. I've also bought a handful of Roma tomatoes, and I'm thinking of attempting to make oven-dried tomatoes. The last time I tried it (in the actual oven) they burnt, and I just don't feel I can justify having the oven on for the six or seven hours, or whatever, the recipe says it needs. And since this is meant to be six or seven hours at a low temperature ...
I really will have to try it later this week, though probably not tomorrow, since it'll only be 22.
Hooray for the usefulness of stationary cars! Perhaps I will be able to use it in winter to provide a sufficiently warm place for my bread to rise (hard to find in this house, otherwise).
* The baby eggplants weren't. Perhaps I should have put a tB of water in them after all.
What I did was bake them. I created no extra heat, and used no extra electricity or gas.
I baked them in my car. I cut 'em open, bunged in a little garlic (pretty much exactly as I would for an oven), placed them on a deep-ish oven tray, and put another tray over the top as a "lid". I made sure the lid was a dark colour, in order to soak up as much heat as possible. Then I put them on the ledge beneath my rear window, and left them there for about 2 1/2 to 3 hours. That's longer than I'd use for an oven (which would be about 20–30 minutes, considering these were small capsicums), but of course, they were cooking at a much lower temperature. It got pretty hot in there, though. I had to grab a fabric bag to carry them safely inside again, perfectly cooked*.
I'm actually feeling pretty smug. It's nice to be able to take advantage of my car's natural ability to heat up beyond all reason. I've also bought a handful of Roma tomatoes, and I'm thinking of attempting to make oven-dried tomatoes. The last time I tried it (in the actual oven) they burnt, and I just don't feel I can justify having the oven on for the six or seven hours, or whatever, the recipe says it needs. And since this is meant to be six or seven hours at a low temperature ...
I really will have to try it later this week, though probably not tomorrow, since it'll only be 22.
Hooray for the usefulness of stationary cars! Perhaps I will be able to use it in winter to provide a sufficiently warm place for my bread to rise (hard to find in this house, otherwise).
* The baby eggplants weren't. Perhaps I should have put a tB of water in them after all.