Living in an apartment with such a small kitchen and very little storage space, I have to be very selective about the pots, pans and kitchen tools I own.
I love it when things can serve dual purposes. Since I don’t have a nice, heavy bottomed roasting pan, whenever I want to bake a chicken or roast some pork tenderloins, I just use my sauté pan.
I just place the meat on a bed of diced potatoes, root vegetables and/or sliced onions and just roast it like normal. Then when the meat is finished cooking I remove it and the vegetables to a place and place the sauté pan on the stove top and it’s ready to deglaze to make the gravy or pan sauce. Just be careful not to touch the handle. It will be very hot. Also, before you try this at home, make sure your sauté pan has a handle that can go into the oven without melting.
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Ah, small space kitchens. I recently moved to a wonderful place but I don't have an oven, nor can I install a regular oven, so I'm looking at counter top convection ovens.
I absolutely need to be able to back and roast and will discard my microwave if I find the best value in a convection/microwave.
Does anyone have knowledge of which brand delivers the best bang for the buck? I don't want to spend more than $400 and would actually prefer a bit less, but I do want something attractive that does a great job.
Help!
Watched Wolfgang Puck over the weekend on HSN and he had a GREAT convection oven WITH a pizza oven on the bottom! It looked great and could hold a 20 pound turkey! There were many positive comments from customers who have purchased and loved it. You could probably still purchase it at HSN.com and all the details will be listed there. Good Luck.
Aloha Ya'll,
I will say the biggest part of my <500sf condo is the kitchen. Its a good thing because that's what I love to do.
When I lived in a home here in Hawaii before I moved to a condo, I did rely more on small appliances that saved used less electricity. Power is expensive here, so I used a crockpot, a great toaster oven and other "counter top appliances" that took up little space and could be stored afterwards. I did quite a bit with this toaster oven, a nice sized one, including pizza, cookies, cake and broiling.
One of the best appliances to save gas/electricity is the pressure. It cooks the food very fast and locks in the flavors. Great for making stews, soups, rice,
oh boy, i left the name of the appliance out. it is the Pressure cooker
I have a roasting pan with a rack, yet when I want to roast a chicken or a pork loin, I just use my cast iron skillet. It's easier to clean and handle. I now only use the roasting pan when I give big dinners and make a big ham.
I really tried to resist. BUT sorry Grant that's a frying pan not a saute pan. Saute pans have vertical not sloped sides.
I used my beloved cast iron skillet for EVERYTHING, including roasting chicken. I just love my cast iron. Most things you buy are get slightly worse every time you use them. I'm in love with the idea that my skillet gets better with each use. If the house was on fire, it would be the first thing I'd rescue (ironically enough, because it would probably be the only thing that could survive the fire.)
Bah, I tried to do this using my mom's old Le Creuset (the big dutch oven kind) and it just didn't work quite right. I did the chicken on a bed of veggies and it smelled heavenly but ended up mushy instead of crispy. A bit disappointing. I'm hoping if I reheat leftovers in the toaster oven they might crisp up a bit.
veggies always fare poorly when cooked under a chicken... covered in schmaltz and way overcooked.
Give yourself a break and cook them separately.
I have just been reading the article on Roasting in a Saute Pan. I do agree you do need a good quality saute pan if you are roasting with it.
I use my Saute for roasting and frying which is an Anolon Professional and can go into the oven without melting. The last thing you want is a plastic pan handle that has melted all over your oven.