Synopses & Reviews
Microwave ovens are in over 90% of American homes--but too often relegated to the role of re-heater, defroster, and popcorn maker. No more. Victoria Wise and Susanna Hoffman, authors of
The Well-Filled Tortilla, spent three years exploring the possibilities of the microwave, and they've created a collection of 350 innovative, flavorful, at times whimsical recipes that take full advantage of the box and what it does best. And what the microwave does best, as the authors have discovered, is pretty terrific. Perfectly cooked fish. Creamy no-stir risottos. Luscious sauces for pasta. Crunchy pickles and relishes in a twinkling. Soup with an unexpected depth of flavor. Hasty puddings. And all without much of the time, mess, fuss, and demanding attention of conventional cooking. Then, marry these virtues with the sensibilities of two truly imaginative chefs, and the box really does become magic: Cuba Seafood Soup with Black Beans, Sweet Potato and Yam, Burmese Curried Chicken, Fish Fillets Brazilian, Tahini Spice Cake with Orange Glaze, Double Chocolate Pudding.
Synopsis
UNCONVENTIONAL COOKING
SNACKS
Warm Brie with Toasted Pumpkin Seeds and Pine Nuts
Parsleyed Pork and Caper Meatballs
Achiote Chicken Wings with Mexican Dipping Salt
Tarragon Mushrooms
ENTREES
Corsican Lasagne
Risotto with Asparagus and Fancy Mushrooms
American All-Beef Meat Loaf
Sukiyaki
Fruited Pork Goulash with Juniper
Chicken Curry
Whole Stuffed Trout
SIDES
White Beans Boston-Baked Style
Broccoli with Classic Cheddar Cheese Sauce
Sweet-Tart Zucchini with Raisins
SWEETS
Double Chocolate Pudding
Almond Sponge Cake in Lemon Syrup
Chocolate-Iced Hazelnut Meringue Cake
Chocolate-Coconut Caramels
From two great cooks, great food-that just happens to be cooked in the microwave, which just happens to do dazzling things in the kitchen.
About the Author
Victoria Wise, alumnus of the Chez Panisse restaurant and co-founder of Oakland's Good & Plenty Café, is a co-author of The Well-Filled Microwave Cookbook and Good & Plenty: America's New Home Cooking. Victoria also compiled and wrote the Smith & Hawken Gardeners' Community Cookbook. She lives in Oakland, CA.Susanna Hoffman, alumnus of the Chez Panisse restaurant and co-founder of Oakland's Good & Plenty Café, is a co-author of The Well-Filled Microwave Cookbook and Good & Plenty: America's New Home Cooking. She is an anthropologist and cook who has lived and worked in Greece on and off for more than thirty years, dividing her time between Telluride, Colorado and Santorini, Greece.
Table of Contents
THE MAGIC BOX
What you need to know in order to cook successfully in the microwave.
MICROMUNCHIBLES
A grand selection of starters and snacks from the microwave in a matter of minutes.
Cheese in a Whiz
Stuffed Surprises and Swift Spreads
Seven Saucy Meatballs and Three Wild Wings
Neptune's Nibbles
PICKLING IN A TWINKLING
Bread and Butter Pickles, Tarragon Mushrooms, Ginger Pickled Plums, Kumquat Red Chile Relish, and more to cheer up your burger or accompany your roast.
DRIED FRUIT IN MAGICAL MOMENTS
As fine as the most expensive store-bought varieties: Oven-dried apricots, figs, and tomatoes, plus fresh fruit leathers-intensely flavored and fast in the microwave.
SOUP OF THE HOUR
Broths, cream soups, vegetarian soups, and meat soups-a wining collection, pleasing to both eye and palate.
From the Vegetable Patch: Purely Vegetable Soups
From Pen and Pasture: Poultry- and Meat-Stocked Soups
From the Sea: Fish Soups
HOT SANDWICHES
Follow a few microwave maxims and serve up a Croque Monsieur, Reuben Melt, Italian Sausage Sandwich, Well-Filled Turkey Burrito, and other hot lunchtime favorites.
Sandwich Melts
Open-Face Sandwiches: Then and Now
Well-Filled Pita Pockets
Burritos Momentito
PASTA SAUCES AND LASAGNES SUBITO!
A rich collection of basic meaty and meatless tomato sauces and sauces with fresh seafood and vegetables to combine with your favorite pastas. Plus classic and Corsican lasagnes in half the time.\
SNAP, CRACKLE, AND POP
Polenta, couscous, and four different risottos, fast and fabulous from the microwave.
Corn
Rice
Wheat
Barley, Millet, and Buckwheat
FROM DRY TO PLUMP
Reduce soaking time by half and turn out a tangy Hot Black-Eyed Pea Salad, White Beans Boston-Baked Style, and hearty bowlful of Louisiana Red Beans and Rice.
Peas
Beans
LEAVES, STALKS, AND ROOTS
Flash cooked and vibrant, singly or in combination, stuffed or stewed, the microwave garners kudos for cooking vegetables. Try Beets with Orange and Ginger, Eggplant and Wilted Spinach in Delicious Sauce, Leeks in Honey Herb Dressing, Classic Scalloped Potatoes, and Cabbage Leaves Stuffed with Chicken, Apple, and Bulgur.
MIRACLES WITH MEAT IN MICRO TIME
Chile Con Carne, Veal Scaloppine Piccata, Sweet-and-Sour Pork-here is a wide selection of tempting and terrific braises, curries, and fricassees.
Beef
Veal
Pork
WINGING IT
Quick and tasty entrees include All-American BBQ Chicken, Dieter's Delight Chicken, Mock Chicken Satay with Peanut Garlic Salsa, and for those really frantic nights, no-time-flat Desperation Chicken
WAVES OF SPECTACULAR SEAFOOD
The Microwave cooks seafood with resounding success. Choose from Salmon Simple and Succulent, Snapper Veracruz, Halibut in Indian Coconut Velvet Cream, Bistro Mussels with Tomato, Wine, and Marjoram, Shrimp in Chinese Black Bean Sauce, Scallops Rockefeller-the variety is endless.
Fish
Shellfish
SO SWEET, SO FAST
Creamy puddings, moist cakes, poached and preserved fresh fruits, dessert sauces, and mouthwatering candies-the perfect microwaved meal-enders.
Hasty Puddings
The Flour Connection
Fruit Finales
Spoon Sweets
Sweet Sauces
The Candy Machine
CONVERSION CHART
INDEX