AIBU? Butternut squash, sweetcorn.. whats next?! Educate us!

[CocacolaMum]

I am 31 and mum to 2 school aged children. I have got to this point in my life without killing anyone off with my cooking but in the last week I have learnt 2 things..

1. You can bake a butternut squash whole. No peeling, deseeding or anything

2. You can microwave a corn on the cob in its husk (is that what that's called? the leaves?) and then just chop off the ends and it slides out ready to munch

So AIBU to wonder what else I never knew I never knew?

MammaTJ Tue 05-Nov-13 22:23:32
You can microwave swedes, just like jacket potato. Score aroud it and nuke for about 12 minutes, then test, you may need to put it back in for another couple of minutes.
Thank-you madam, I shall put this to the test tomorrow.

Fuzzpig, you can do that. It's called ouefs en concotte. Try a thin slice of bread (say in a muffin tray, so deeper holes) add some nice ham, crack an egg in and put some cheese on top. And bake! Delicious. If you don't have a muffin tin, a shallow tea cup or similar does.

Ouefs en concotte sounds great!
I will be using the rice idea as well and I never knew you could microwave swede.

Talking about rice if you soak it for an hour before cooking (then throw away the soaking water) it speeds up the cooking time no end. I do this when i make my vegan rice pudding I soak small grain whole rice then put in almond milk about 1\2 cms above the rice and soak for a little while then bring to boil put a very tight top on and lower the heat (or use a diffuser if yr heat won't go low enough). You can turn off the heat completely after 20 mins or so and just leave it to swell up nicely.

Love the idea of adding bread winter, do you mean to line the muffin tray bit? Would mean DH can't eat it (coeliac) but sounds yummy for me :o

Well I just tried the oeufs en cocotte for lunch (not with bread lining it, it wouldn't fit, but I had the eggs on toast) it was gorgeous! Took longer than I expected to cook the egg though. But will definitely become a regular fixture chez Fuzzpig :o

Wow! I've just tried the whole butternut squash thing and it turned out brilliantly. Followed your instructions to the letter ppeafruit and it took exactly half an hour. The flesh was meltingly gorgeous. We even ate the skin which was sort of caramelised and delicious.

No more almost breaking my wrist trying to cut one of these buggers in half (or pathetically having to ask DH to do it for me). No more wasting hours of my life chipping their evil tough skins off.

Thanks for starting this thread CocacolaMum. This is Mumsnet at it's best.

I always cook sausages in the oven. Isn't it better for you? Or am I making that up?

What do you do with an oven roasted butternut squash? I don't like it but DS and DH do.

If you have a potato ricer you can squirt the mash directly onto some shepherds pie filling as an interesting looking topping and don't need to add anything to it, just cover the meat evenly.

When I was little we had a variation of the baked egg dish for lunch sometimes. Slice and onion, chuck it in an ovenproof dish with some cheese (mum probably used the crusty dry bits from the fridge), add a bit of milk and crack some eggs on top and oven bake till the eggs are cooked. I'm sure it would work in the microwave.

Pobble Tonight DH and I had a whole butternut squash roasted in the Mumsnet way, cut in half (half each) with a minced beef spag bol sort of sauce poured over it.

Served it with steamed leeks and green beans as a side dish.

Bloody delicious and very low calorie too if you use lean beef.

Didn't know no. 2. How handy! Number 1, yeah. Wish I'd known when I was weening my children!

Thank you for the butternut squash educational and for the cake ingredient measurements by egg weight tip!

Not as fancy as some of these but did you know you can cook potato waffles in the toaster? Best snack ever!!

Also if I am feeling lazy I sometimes butter a piece of toast (making sure the middle is pretty squashed down) crack an egg onto it, prick the yolk with a fork and microwave on 80% for about a minute- voila- poached egg on toast! ( toast is a little soggy but still yummy!)

I'm attempting oeufs en cocotte for lunch. They're in the oven right now!

How'd they turn out? I did them again today, DH had them too and he loved them. Fast becoming a firm favourite!

I've never microwaved bacon, but might try it. My top bacon tip is to bake it instead of grilling or frying. Line a baking tray with foil (saves on washing up), put a rack on top (grill pan rack works fine) and bake bacon for 10-15 mins. Stays flat, fat is crisp and the excess drains off.

Really well! I lined ramekins with bread then put in ham, tomato, cheese and an egg. Yum! I have sent pictures to DH.

This thread is making me hungry!

My tip is if you put garlic cloves in the microwave for a couple of seconds they're really easy to peal. Not quite as mouth watering as some of these other tips!

I buy organic carrots and potatoes so that I can 'wash n go'.