It's Here!

I have a new oven! It has a waist-high broiler (instead of a broiler drawer), a special high-powered burner and another, low-powered burner for simmering things, it's self-cleaning, has two built-in timers (one that actually turns the oven off when the time's run down), and a convection feature. It's not as wide as my old oven, which is going to take some getting used to (I used to have lots of extra surface area on the actual stovetop where I could put things down). It's still a gas oven and stovetop, which I like.

Anyway, I've been repeatedly foiled in my attempts to use it. It arrived yesterday afternoon but wasn't hooked up and ready to go until about an hour before I had to leave last night. Then tonight I had the slowest subway ride, so I got home later than usual (a ride that normally takes 30 minutes took three times as long). The good thing about the extra-long ride is that it gave me a chance to think about what to have for dinner.

I ended up having pasta with oil-packed tonna (tuna), capers and olive oil. I put the oil in a small saucepan on the simmer burner and dropped a crushed clove of garlic in there, to infuse the oil with the garlic. Cooked the pasta on the power burner; not sure if the water came to a boil faster, but this Barilla pasta I got, spaghetti rigati (spaghetti with ridges), really does cook in 5 minutes. I tossed the tuna and capers into the oil, then added the pasta. Tossed it all together, added some grated Parm, and was eating 15 minutes after I walked in the door. The oil could have used a little more garlic flavor, but overall it was a pretty good meal (and amazingly quick).

It's not really that late yet. Maybe I'll give the oven its first spin with some brownies.