I've baked cakes in mine, "baked" beans in mine, and made banana bread. I have an old Sharp Carousel cookbook, and several of the recipes are really good.

Barbara Kafka's Microwave Gourmet has some really good recipes. The lemon curd one is dead easy and really reallygood. The basil and tomato sauce and hot itlalian sauceage casarole arefine too. I make enough of her peach chutney to last the whole year. I haven't had much luck with the desserts but that could just be me. If I think of more I'll come back and add them. They are mostly pretty easy and great in the summer when you don't want to heat up the house with the regular oven.

So.....when are you going to post the recipes??????????

Most of us who have remodeled our kitchens now have fancy microwaves. It would be nice to make real food, not just reheat leftovers or nuke potatoes or bacon!

OK, here's the Shrimp and Spring Vegetable Risotto. This is the only Kafka recipe I have. It was given to me.

Shrimp and Spring Vegetable Risotto

Barbara Kafka "Microwave Gourmet"
This dish is so beautiful that when The New York Times asked me to provide a microwave recipe that would be photographed for their entertaining issue, this is the one I chose. Italians use ambra rice rather than arborio in this recipe, both for its pale golden color and for its lighter, less glutinous consistency, but arborio can be substituted. Serves 6 as a main course, 10 as a first course.
3 Tbsp. unsalted butter
3 Tbsp. fruity olive oil
1/2 cup chopped scallion (white part only)
2 celery stalks, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup (packed) chopped flat-leaf parsley
2 cups ambra rice
4 cups Fish Broth, Clam Broth, Chicken Broth or canned chicken broth
3/4 pound asparagus, trimmed, peeled and cut into 2-inch lengths
1 pound medium shrimp, peeled, deveined and cut in half crosswise
3/4 cup shelled fresh peas or frozen peas, defrosted in a sieve under warm running water
1 to 2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 cup chopped scallion (green part only)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1. Heat butter and oil in a 14" x 11" x 2" dish, uncovered, at 100% for 3 minutes. Add scallion whites, celery, parsley, and rice and stir to coat. Cook, uncovered a 100% for 4 minutes.
2. Stir in broth and cook, uncovered at 100% for 12 minutes. Add asparagus, shrimp, and peas and stir well. Cook, uncovered, for 12 minutes more.
3. Remove from oven. Stir in salt and pepper. Cover loosely with paper toweling and let stand for 8 to 10 minutes. Uncover, sprinkle with scallion greens and cheese, and serve.
   My Note: I used Goya medium-grain rice and it works very well. I also used two jars of clam juice and one can of chicken stock. This recipe is also very good without the shrimp (and just using chicken broth) as a side dish.

Can I also have the Lemon Curd recipe, please? Last night I made Barbara's Frozen Lemon Cream sandwiches using the Trader Joe's lemon curd. Last year I made my own, from the recipe at Canny Camp, and it was much more lemony than the T.J.'s one.

I'd make it from scratch again, but would like an even easier recipe!

While it sounds good, it also seems as though I would have to spend 20 minutes cleaning my microwave after heating butter and oil for 3 minutes, the very least of the uncovered cooking time.

I use my microwave often but actual "cooking" is mostly confined to vegetables and sauces. This is one recipe I do make that is partially cooked in the microwave. The kasha comes out better than made on the stovetop.

MICROWAVE KASHA AND NOODLES

3 ounces bow-tie pasta
1 Tbs. vegetable oil
1/2 cup whole kernel kasha
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup chicken broth
3 Tbs. butter
15 fresh mushrooms, trimmed, and sliced
2 Tbs. minced onion
1/4 cup chopped green onions
1/2 tsp. coarsely ground black pepper

Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil, and add the pasta. Cook until just tender, then drain, rinse under cold water and drain again. Set aside. Cook the oil, uncovered, in a 2 quart microwave-safe casserole at full power for 1 minute. Stir in the kasha, and cook until toasted and fragrant, 1 1/2 minutes. Remove the casserole from the oven and quickly add the beaten egg, stirring until it is almost cooked and the kernels are coated (this will take only a few seconds). Return the casserole to the oven and cook 20 seconds. Stir to separate the kernels, breaking up any clumps with a fork. Stir in broth and cook, uncovered, until liquid has been absorbed and the kernels are cooked through, about 6 1/2 minutes. Break up any clumps with a fork. Set aside. Cook the butter in a microwave-safe pie plate for 1 minute. Then stir in the mushrooms and chopped onion, and cook 3 minutes. Remove from oven and stir in the green onions and pepper. Stir the mushroom mixture and the reserved pasta into the kasha. Return the casserole to the oven, and cook until heated through, 1 to 2 minutes. (Note: for extra flavor, noodles can be cooked in chicken broth.)

4 servings

adapted from The New Basics Cookbook by Julee Rosso & Sheila Lukins

Thanks for the recipes.

I always use one of those microwave splatter covers when I do anything with butter or oil, or sauce, in the MW, it keeps the splatters under control. It has holes in it, so it vents the heat. They are a couple of bucks at WalMart.

I would never make anything like that shrimp dish without a splatter cover.

Here's Barbara Kafka's lemon curd recipe;

1/4 pound unsalted butter grated zest of one lemon
1/2 cup granulated sugar 3eggs
4tbls fresh lemon juice

place butters,sugar,juice & zest in a 2-sup glass merure. cook 4 min***cover tightly

remove uncover & stir well

whisk 1/4 lemon mixture into eggs.whisking constantly pour mixture back into remaining lemon mixture.

Cook for 2 min. Remove and whisk until smooth, Cook for 2 more mins.

Remove and pour into bowl of food processor. Process for 30 sec. until smooth.

****It's important to remember that this is an old book and mws have changed and at any time they are more variable than reg, ovens so you will probably have to adjust the times.

I had to bring this back because I hadn't mentioned Kafka's super recipe for sorrel soup, It's very easy and very very good. We some times subsitute sour cream for the other, as the refrigerator demands. Her palenta is great too unless you enjoy standing and stirring.