Gadgets: Gourmet Minute Cooker

There are only a few things I cook in my microwave. Vegetables, primarily. But when I tried Alton Brown's recipe for fish en papilotte cooked in the microwave, it rocked my world. No need to heat up the oven, and it's done in a few minutes.

But then there's that fiddly parchment folding. Not exactly what I want to do when I'm contemplating fast and easy cooking.

So, when I got the Mastrad Gourmet Minute Cooker ($29.99) to test, the first thing I tested was a fish fillet.

The minute cooker is simple. A somewhat square (wider at the corners, gently curved in the center), somewhat flat bowl nestles into a silicone base with a silicone lid.

I was skeptical that the lid would hold in the required steam since it doesn't snap on, so I was pleasantly surprised when I lifted the lid and there was indeed a whole lot of steam inside. And the fish cooked evenly.

I was also gleefully surprised that the ceramic dish inside was attractive enough for serving, and it didn't get freakishly hot like some of my allegedly-microwavable dishes do.

After the fish, I tried several variations of vegetables, including fresh and frozen. And I reheated leftovers for lunch and dinner a number of times.

The benefit of using this contraption versus a plate or bowl with plastic wrap is that 1) I've melted plastic wrap in the microwave before when the plate has gotten too hot; 2) I'm getting tired of buying throwaway products like plastic wrap; 3) the silicone doesn't get hot, so I could remove this from the microwave without using pot holders; and 4) by leaving the food in the silicone holder while I attended to other things, it retained heat better than if it was a regular bowl covered with plastic wrap.

I'm not about to start cooking steaks in the microwave, but for my usual repertoire of vegetables and leftover lunches, along with the occasional fish dish, this is going to see a lot of use.

The only downside is the size - you're not going to be able to fit a buffet-sized portion of vegetables in there since the dish is just over 7 inches wide at the center.

But sometimes smaller is better. It's a perfect size for side dishes (I fit a full pound of frozen spinach into it) and it's a reasonable size for single meals. Meanwhile, the flat bowl shape makes it more versatile than a flat plate, and all the parts are dishwasher safe.

The product was supplied for the purpose of a review on Serious Eats; this was previously published on Serious Eats.

Shrimp with Scallions

Mmmmm, shrimp.

I love 'em, and since I got a ginormous bag for participating in an OXO event, I've been cooking with them quite a bit lately. This was a super-quick supper one night, but worth jotting down for the next time I'm trying to think of something fast and easy.

This would be great on pasta or rice, or it could have been served on a bed of roasted or stir-fried vegetables, like zucchini, bell peppers, onions, or bean sprouts.

For herbs, tarragon, paprika (hot, mild, or smoked), rosemary, basil or thyme would work. Or use a bit of soy sauce or a dash of sriracha. Or a lot more lemon. Or lime. Or even some tomatoes.

Or, you know, just serve it plain, without any frills.

Shrimp with Scallions

1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
12 jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined
Salt and white pepper, to taste
6 scallions, thinly slices
Juice of 1 Meyer lemon

Heat the butter and olive oil in a medium saute pan. Wait until the butter sizzles a bit. Add the shrimp, salt, an pepper. Watch carefully - it cooks quickly.

When it's pink on one side, flip to the second side and add the scallions. Cook until the shrimp is just cooked through.

Take off the heat, drizzle with the Meyer lemon juice, and serve with the scallions and the butter sauce from the pan.

It's Thyme for Orange Dinner Rolls #TwelveLoaves

Wow, how thyme flies. The deadline is here to make another bready recipe with the group #TwelveLoaves.

The theme for April is oranges and my first instinct was to make something sweet. It would have been easy, since I've got a few jars of orange marmalade left from a previous orange frenzy.

But then I thought, no, I really don't feel like sweet rolls.

But what?

I love citrus, but I was stumped for just a little while. I didn't want to just toss some orange juice into a bread recipe and leave it at that. I wanted to add something else.

Then it hit me. (ouch!) Lemon thyme is one of my favorite herbs. So why not use plain thyme with some orange. Makes sense, yes?

That's exactly what I did. And then I made dinner rolls.

It's Thyme for Orange Dinner Rolls

Zest of 1/2 orange
Juice of 1/2 orange, plus water to make 1 cup
2 tablespoons sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast*
2 1/2 cups (11 1/4 ounces) bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon dry thyme

Combine all of the ingredients in the bowl of your stand mixer. Knead with the dough hook until the dough is shiny and elastic. It won't be smooth because of the bits of orange and thyme mixed in, but the dough itself should be smooth and silky.

Or, if you're so inclined, mix in a bowl, then knead by hand. If you're hand-kneading, reserve some of the flour for dusting your work surface during kneading - you don't want to add more flour. Return the dough to the bowl when you're done kneading.

Cover the bowl and set aside in a warm place to rise until doubled, about an hour.

When the dough has risen, flour your work surface very lightly and turn out the dough. Divide into 12 equal pieces. For a tip on how to divide dough into thirds, look here.

Spray a 9x13 baking pan with baking spray. Or you can use a baking sheet lined with parchment or sprinkled with cornmeal. I like the 9x13 pan because I have one with a cover, which is convenient for rising. Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Form each lump of dough into a ball and place them in the prepared baking pan. Cover with plastic wrap (see how that covered pan is handy?) and set aside in a warm spot to rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.

When the buns have risen, remove the cover and bake the buns at 350 degrees until nicely browned, about 25 minutes.

Remove the buns from the pan and let them cool completely on a rack.

*If you're using Red Star active dry yeast, you can mix it directly into the dough - the pellet size is small enough so it dissolves. If you're using a different brand that has larger-grained yeast, combine it with the water and let it sit for a few minutes to soften, before you continue with the mixing and kneading.

About #TwelveLoaves

#TwelveLoaves is a monthly bread baking party created by Lora from Cake Duchess. #TwelveLoaves runs so smoothly thanks to the help of the lovely Renee from Magnolia Days and Heather from girlichef.

April's theme is oranges, following the gorgeous strawberry breads featured in March.

If you want to play along, choose a recipe that includes oranges in the recipe itself (not a jam that's alongside, for example). You can use oranges, orange marmalade, or orange zest in the dough or as a glaze, drizzle, or frosting. Whatever you bake, (yeasted, quick bread, crackers, muffins, braids, flatbreads, etc) have fun and let's have a delicious month of bread with oranges. Let's get baking!

Want more ORANGE? Check out these other lovely bloggers who participated this month:

• Blueberry Dreamsicle Orange Lower-Fat Quick Bread from Shockingly Delicious
• Brith with candied orange from Ma che ti sei mangiato
• It's Thyme for Orange Dinner Rolls from Cookistry
• Orange Biscuits from Magnolia Days
• Orange-Fennel Cake Doughnuts from girlichef
• Orange Marmalade Filled Sweet Rolls from That Skinny Chick Can Bake
• Orange Marmalade Scones from A Baker's House
• Orange Pull-Apart Bread from All That's Left Are The Crumbs
• Orange Pull Apart Bread with Orange Cream Cheese Glaze from Bakingyummies
• Orange Rolls from Basic N Delicious
• Orange Rosemary Boule from Food Lust People Love
• Orange You Delicious Honey Crescent Rolls from Kudos Kitchen By Renee
• Pizza di Pasqua from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Rye and fennel seeds snails with blood oranges and red onion chutney from Rise of the sourdough preacher 
• Sicilian Orange Sweet Bread from Cake Duchess
• Strawberry and Orange Quick Bread with Candied Orange Marmalade from Hip Foodie Mom

If you’d like to add your bread to the collection with the Linky Tool, below, for this month, here’s what you need to do!

1. When you post your Twelve Loaves bread on your blog, make sure that you mention the Twelve Loaves challenge in your blog post; this helps us to get more members as well as share everyone's posts. Please make sure that your bread is inspired by the theme!

2. Please link your post to the linky tool at the bottom of my blog. It must be a bread baked to the Twelve Loaves theme.

3. Have your Twelve Loaves bread that you baked this April, 2014, and posted on your blog by April 30, 2014.