10.3 Indoor “Grilling”

This year’s Christmas gift from Alice was a Tupperware Micropro device, on that allows a version of grilling in your microwave. It’s a container made of some kind of material that heats when microwaved, and it has a lid that can be either placed directly on the food to be grilled or in an open position for more liquid ingredients (the “casserole” position). To date, I have not tried the latter.

So how to use it? The device comes with a manual that includes suggested cooking times for all sorts of things. However, be prepared for a lot of trial and error. So far, I’ve come up with one basic rule: Cook whatever you are doing in 3 minute intervals. A lot of cooking will get done, and in many cases you will want to flip your food periodically. And go by eye - a sandwich browns nicely in 6 minutes (at least in our microwave) and chicken wings will be cooked to temperature (~175o F.) in 9-12 minutes.

10.3.1 Sandwiches (Paninis)

So the basic procedure is simple: Cut a couple of thin slices of bread, add a filling, close up into a sandwich, place in the Micropro and cook for a total of 6 minutes, flipping the sandwich after 3 minutes. The big question, of course is what to use for a filling. These are my results when using Honey Wheat Sourdough Bread:

  1. Pre-sliced supermarket “Cheddar” cheese. Forget it. What little flavor the cheese has is completely overwhelmed by the flavor of the bread.
  2. Pre-sliced Swiss cheese. This is better - the bite of the cheese helps.
  3. Manchego cheese and thin-sliced Spanish Jámon. This is the best so far - indeed it was totally delightful. The Jámon was a gift from my son; if you don’t have a local source, you can get it from La Tienda. Pricey but good.

10.3.2 Chicken Wings

So far, here is what I’ve done.

  1. Sprinkle 8-10 wings and drumettes with barbecue rub.
  2. Cook in Micropro with microwave on high fo 3 minutes
  3. Flip chicken pieces and cook for another 3 minutes.
  4. Repeat this process until the wings appear done, and their internal temperature has reached 175o F.
  5. Coat the wings with your favorite wing sauce and serve.

10.3.2.1 Results

As described above, these wings are tasty but not particularly crisp.

10.3.2.2 Possible modifications.

  1. Stir the uncooked pieces with 1 tbsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt prior to sprinkling with barbecue rub.
  2. To cook the sauce into the wings, cook in the Micropro for 2-3 minutes after sauce is applied.

10.3.2.3 Results

The baking powder/salt mixture did crisp them up somewhat, and the salt added to the flavor. I don’t think cooking after saucing added a whole lot. Indeed, a repeat without cooking in sauce turned out well.

10.3.3 Chicken Thighs

10.3.4 Sausage and Peppers

10.3.5 Quesadillas

I’ve always loved simple cheese quesadillas, and it struck me that the micropro might be excellent for preparing them. It was - simply pile up whatever filling you like on one side of a fajita-sized tortilla, fold the other side over it, and cook 3 minutes per side. For starters, I used the following filling:

Chicken thighs, prepared as described for fajitas
Finely diced colored pepper
Shredded mexican cheese (or whatever you like)
Mexican-style hot sauce (optional)
Fajita-sized tortillas

  1. Prepare the chicken as described.
  2. Wipe the micropro clean and add the diced pepper. Cook for about 6-8 minutes.
  3. Wipe the micropro again and lay a tortilla on it.
  4. Stack the chicken, pepper and cheese (however much you want) on one side of the fajita. Season to taste with hot sauce.
  5. Fold the other side of the fajita over the ingredients.
  6. Cook for 6-8 minutes, flipping midway through.

10.3.6 Shrimp Quesadillas

I tried this, using Penzey’s Fajita Seasoning and cooking the final product in the Micropro, and had pretty good results. I’ve changed a couple of steps below based on that experience.

Ingredients

1/2 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2 tbsp olive olive oil, divided
1 tbsp fajita seasoning
small bunch cilantro leaves, chopped
two flour tortillas, fajita size
Shredded melting cheese (Mexican blend, for example)
Mexican hot sauce (La Vitoria, Cholulla or similar)

  1. Combine the shrimp with the fajita seasoning, cilantro, and 1 tbsp olive oil.
  2. Sauté the pepper and onion with the other tablespoon of olive oil until soft, about 5 minutes.
  3. Add the shrimp to the pan and stir for 30 seconds to 1 minute*. Remove from heat.
  4. Place one tortilla flat in the Micropro. Stack half the shrimp on one side, followed by cheese and hot sauce to taste.
  5. Fold the other half of the tortilla over the filling, and drape the second tortilla over the vacant half of the Micropro and the first tortilla. Fill and fold as described for the first one.
  6. This is a place that I’m still refining. On my first try, I cooked for 3 minutes and then attempted to flip them. It made a mess. Next time I’m going to let them go four minutes, and if the top is browning well, cook them for an additional two minutes and serve.

* I’m still experimenting here. I initially tried two minutes, but that was too long. If this proves to be too long as well, then I’ll just put them in the fajitas raw and let them cook while it browns.