After moving house and spending a significant amount of time unexpectedly needing to wait for our appliances to arrive, we were forced to get a little creative in the kitchen. Armed with only a toaster, kettle and newly acquired barbecue, we managed to whip up some pretty spectacular dishes, if we do say so ourselves.
These hacks are also good if you’re just feeling lazy (we’re still using some of them, even though we now have more traditional cooking tools).
Toaster sweet potato
A friend suggested this one to us, and for reals, this is such an easy post-work dose of deliciousness. Slice a sweet potato thick enough to not curl over, but thin enough to fit in your toaster slots. Turn the knob to the maximum cooking time and pop down the spuds. You’ll probably need to do this three times before you have a perfectly soft potato interior, which can then be smeared with butter, Greek yoghurt or sour cream and a pinch of salt.
It might feel studenty, but students are smart.
Kettle eggs
Weird, yes, but it works! You can cook either soft- or hard-boiled eggs in a kettle – we’ve found for a lovely, runny soft-boiled egg, you’ll want to do two revolutions of boil, and for hard like above, it’s three rounds.
We’ve also cooked broccoli and edamame (just one click of the kettle and your veg is good to go) and even penne (three rounds) in the kettle.
We’re sure you could cook many more things, but we’re hesitant to try anything too messy like rice. Maybe make couscous instead (not in the kettle, but just pour over boiling water and cover, in case there’s any confusion here).
BBQ birthday cake
Ignore broken pizza stone – not required for any reason
We consulted several people before we attempted this one. None were particularly supportive of the idea, and some instead suggested borrowing a neighbour’s oven or (sacré bleu) buying a birthday cake (what fodder would my children have to make fun of me with in later life if I purchase perfect birthday cakes?). So baking by barbecue it was.
We were so thrilled with the results that we decided to write this article about how clever we are, laughing right in the ovens of those naysayers. So thrilled, in fact, that we’ve gone on to make cupcakes, brownies and cookies on the barbecue – and we may never look back. Low heat, lid down, same timing as an oven – no joke.
Look out for our upcoming cookbook, Baking by BBQ, sure to be available at all good bookshops. Then you can make a unicorn cake just like this one (Pinterest makes us believe we can do all sorts of things).
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