Flower - The complete halogen oven cookbook : how to cook easy and delicious meals using your halogen oven

Other books by Sarah Flower:

For advice about cooking with your halogen oven visit
www.everydayhalogen.com

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Published by Spring Hill, an imprint of How To Books Ltd.
Spring Hill House, Spring Hill Road
Begbroke, Oxford OX5 1RX
United Kingdom
Tel: (01865) 375794
Fax: (01865) 379162
www.howtobooks.co.uk

First published 2013

How To Books greatly reduce the carbon footprint of their books by sourcing their typesetting and printing in the UK.

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or stored in an information retrieval system (other than for purposes of review) without the express permission of the publisher in writing.

The right of Sarah Flower to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Text 2013 Sarah Flower

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN: 978 1 908974 03 7

Produced for How To Books by Deer Park Productions, Tavistock, Devon
Designed and typeset by Mousemat Design Ltd
Printed and bound by in Great Britain by Bell & Bain Ltd, Glasgow

E-Book production by www.mousematdesign.com
E-ISBN 978 1 845285 41 8

NOTE: The material contained in this book is set out in good faith for general guidance and no liability can be accepted for loss or expense incurred as a result of relying in particular circumstances on statements made in the book. Laws and regulations are complex and liable to change, and readers should check the current position with relevant authorities before making personal arrangements.

Introduction

It has been really lovely to hear about readers experiences when using their halogen. The success of my first book about cooking with a halogen oven, The Everyday Halogen Oven Cookbook , has shown that this amazing gadget really has taken off. Families, single people, elderly people, students, those who stay in holiday homes and even caravanners all love the benefits the halogen can offer. I use mine every day and would be lost without it. I am really pleased we can now offer you this new book, fully illustrated in wonderful colour. We have taken the best recipes from the entire halogen series of books, as well as adding in lots of new ones to help inspire you. I do hope you like it as much as I do.

As ever, I love hearing from you, so visit the halogen website at www.everydayhalogen.com for tips, reviews and more recipes for your halogen oven, or my own site at www.sarahflower.co.uk. You can also follow my tweets at #Mssarahflower.

Enjoy the book!

Sarah xx

Chapter 1

How to use your halogen oven

Just as I did in my first halogen book, Ive written this first introductory chapter to show any newbie halogen users how to get the most from your machine. If you have bought my other books, you may want to skip this chapter as it will contain duplicate information.

Choosing the right machine for you

There are many different halogen ovens on the market, but they are basically all the same

machine. My first machine was from JML, when halogen ovens first started to become popular. I was not really sure what to expect and over time, the oven has gained more and more use in our home. The two main variations are in the size of the bowl and whether the lid is on a hinge or not. Personally, I would opt for the largest bowl as this increases the usability of the oven.You can also purchase height extension rings which can help maximize use. Since using the JML, I progressed to use the Flavorwave Turbo Platinum Oven. Out of all the machines I have used, this is one of the best it has a hinged lid, digital settings, a 3-speed fan and a preheat setting. Lakeland also do a great halogen oven with a hinged lid. It also had a rotating arm, similar to the actifry, which is great when cooking wedges or chips but it also help transfer the hot air under the racks, claiming this makes for a more thorough cooking.

Looking at online forums I have noticed that lids are a bit of a bugbear amongst users. I had a lid stand beside my JML machine, though annoyingly these are optional extras you have to purchase and are quite flimsy to look at. In my opinion, if you can afford to buy the halogen cooker with the hinge lid, it is definitely a safer and easier option.

How do they work?

The halogen oven/cooker is basically a large glass bowl with an electric halogen lid. The lid is heavy as it contains the halogen element, timer and temperature settings. It can be fiddly to clean but I will come to that later. The halogen bulbs heat up the bowl and the fan moves the air around the bowl to create an even temperature. As it is smaller than a conventional oven, it heats up faster, reducing the need for long preheating and in some cases, reduces the overall cooking time. This makes it a very popular choice for those watching their pennies, living on their own or like me, living with a busy family. It has even become a popular choice for students and caravanners. I read on a forum that some caravanners use the self-clean facility just like a mini dishwasher ingenious! It is also popular as a second oven and really becomes invaluable at busy times like Christmas.

For safety, the handle of the lid has to be in place (placed securely down) for the machine to turn on. This means that when you lift the lid, it automatically cuts off the machine. If you are using a machine with the hinged lid, you have to press the start button to start and remember to turn the machine off when you lift the lid.

A halogen oven does cook slightly differently to a conventional oven, so there is often a period of trial and error when you first start, but in fact the differences are not vast. If you have favourite recipes that you cook in the conventional oven, try them in the halogen. I find cooking at a slightly lower temperature or cooking for less time normally gives the same results, but hopefully this book will help give you more confidence.