Why I Love my Halogen Oven

For those who love cooking as much as I do,  unless you live on another planet,you probably have heard by now about  halogen ovens. Yes, it has become one of the best selling kitchen gadgets right now , for every individual who loves convenient cooking. This is a wonderful kitchen appliance that produces loads of heat. When you turn it on, you will see a ring of light in its lid. This light comes from an inert halogen gas that is stored inside a glass tube. It’s so powerful that is able to create instant, strong heat. No waiting for the conventional oven to warm up. If you have a halogen oven at home, you will realize how easy cooking can be. It’s smaller than a conventional oven, but it functions like one. It also acts like a turbo-charged grill. You can basically do roasting, grilling, baking and other forms of cooking using this revolutionary countertop unit.

 

What Types of Food Can You Cook In a Halogen Oven

Surprisingly, you have lots of simple recipes that you can use while cooking with a halogen oven. You can cook meat, poultry, and vegetables very simply and conveniently. You can even bake bread,  tarts cook well, and prepare many types of  desserts. Any of these you can do in about 15 to 60 minutes. Here  are some simple example recipes.

1. Roast Chicken

This is a classic that will never fail. The halogen oven will keep the moistness, as well as the juiciness of the chicken.

Instructions:

After washing and patting the whole chicken dry, place it on the lower rack. Use a round baking pan under it to trap the juices. Using a pastry brush, apply a mixture of herbs, salt, pepper, herbs and olive oil all over the chicken.

Cook the chicken by replacing the halogen lid and set the temperature to 190 degrees Celsius. Set the timer to 60 minutes. You should know it’s cooked when it has  turned golden brown.

When it’s fully cooked, you will notice juices in your pan. Don’t throw them out. Use it to make lovely gravy.

2. Steamed Vegetables

This one is as simple as preparing vegetables of your choice. A good combination would be carrots, sliced zucchini, tomato, asparagus and green pepper. Just mix these.

After mixing, use foil to seal. Add in fresh herbs or spices of your choice to taste.

Place the vegetables in the halogen oven in the steamer tray ( the perforated tray ) , put boiling water in the bowl and set to a gentle temperature. Set the timer for 5 minutes or more depending on how cooked you want your vegetables to turn out.  Remember the vitamins are destroyed by too long in any cooking process. Make certain the hot air has room to circulate around the vegetables.

3. Yorkshire Puddings

One of any cooks most difficult recipes to get just right . Imagine being able to create fluffy puddings using your halogen oven. You don’t have to imagine it anymore. Now you can do it perfectly every time.

Ingredients:

200g plain flour sifted over a large bowl
3 eggs lightly beaten
300ml milk or mixture of milk and water
salt and pepper
lard for the pudding tins

Instructions:

Mix the flour and the eggs with a hand held mixer. To have a smooth batter, whisk the milk slowly after completely mixing. Place this in the fridge for an hour. Beat this mixture again after an hour.

Use dariol molds, either in silicone or tin. Only 6 will fit in your halogen oven so you may need to do this in batches. You can put lard or butter in each mold. Then place the molds at the bottom rack for 2 minutes or until you see that it’s already hot. The temperature should be set at 230 degrees Celsius for silicone molds and 250 degrees Celsius for tin molds.

When it’s already hot enough, pour the pudding batter into the mold. It should be filled 2/3. Replace the lid and set the temperature to an optimum. 15 minutes should be enough. You will see the batter rise through the transparent oven. Wait until they become golden brown. Serve with gravy when done.

There are many simple and delicious recipes made easy with the Halogen Oven. Below are some reasons why I love my halogen oven and you will discover too, that you will soon find you cannot do without it. After feeding the family for years and years a lot of people resort to ‘ready meals’ for sheer convenience, with all the problems that can bring. As with any processed food, extra salt, sugar which isn’t under your control not to mention the chemicals and the cost can be well in excess of comparable home prepared meals. So get back to basics, fresh ingredients, the Halogen makes it so easy to cook wholesome meals day in day out. You really don’t have to be a Heston or a Jamie to produce fantastic tasty results time after time.

1. It’s small, portable and versatile.

There is no complex nor sophisticated set-up. You simply plug it in. If you have a small kitchen because you live alone, or you only have 2-3 people you prepare meals for, then you don’t need a large conventional oven. You only need this. You will find that over a year of use, it has saved you a considerable amount of  electricity compared to any conventional cooker.

2. It cooks your food fast.

It saves you lots of time and the convenience to host roast dinners. It is able to emit more heat compared to a conventional oven, yet it does not burn the food, as the heat is evenly distributed inside.

3. It’s safe.

If you think that something that you just plug to the wall and emit so much heat is dangerous inside a household, you may be right. However, this is not the case for the halogen oven. It is safe because it has a mechanism that snaps off the power the moment you lift the handle. This technology is genius for households that have kids.

4. It’s healthy.

This is a much healthier way to prepare your food. There is no need for much oil. In fact, it will take out the oil in chicken and other meat while cooking. By using the racks, the fat will certainly just drip off your food. You can also bake potato and steam vegetables.