Meals that require at least an hour in the oven unattended

[Chris Hennes]

I'm looking for some ideas for meals that, as the final stage of cooking, require an hour or more in the oven, unattended. I would prefer things that are ready to go straight from the oven, with no additional prep: for example, braises are great, but if they are supposed to be served over egg noodles, I'd have to make the noodles. Not a deal breaker, but not my preference. Bonus points if it's a complete meal, with no need to add a vegetable side, etc. Any ideas for me? Right now I've got a few braises that I serve over mashed potatoes (the potatoes take about an hour to bake in the oven, then a quick mash and they are ready), but I'd like to branch out.

[Carolyn Tillie]

Short Ribs

Pot Roast

any Moroccan tagine

Cassoulet

Lasagne

[Kim Shook]

Chris - I don't know if casseroles are your thing, but this one is really good and actually goes from freezer to oven for 2 hours, turning the pieces once after one hour.

[Dakki]

Baked beans?

[Peter the eater]

Moussaka?

[Peter the eater]

When we do a roast chicken, turkey, leg of lamb, etc. with all the fixins', it gets timed so things may go in at different times but all come out at the same time -- usually an hour or so after. I don't suppose that helps much.

[Chris Hennes]

Well, as long as the last thing that goes in needs at least an hour to cook, it's fine.

[judiu]

Chris - I don't know if casseroles are your thing, but this one is really good and actually goes from freezer to oven for 2 hours, turning the pieces once after one hour.

Kim, as usual, the recipe sounds divine, but when do you put in the cranberry sauce? I would think it would go in at step 2, but maybe I'm nuts or did I miss something? Thanks!

[IndyRob]

Baked potato rather than the mash could be a good option. I just stab each one deeply several times with a fork and put them directly on the oven rack for an hour at 425. Longer at lower temps, and shorter for smaller spuds. This is flexible since you can put them in nooks and crannies around whatever other pans/dishes you have in the oven. They're as good as the ones I used to make while screwing around with rock salt beds.

I also take a ziplock bag and put equal parts margarine (which I find as good as butter for this purpose) and sour cream, and add some salt (you want it pretty salty) and chives. Seal the bag and mash it up to mix, and store in the reefer for a couple of hours.

When it's go time, take the margarine/sour cream mixture out, and cut off a corner of the bag (after having squeezed the mixture away from that side of the bag). Insert fluted pastry tip. Take the spuds out and cut a cross in the top of each. Squeeze to open the tops, and pipe the margarine/sour cream mixture into the opening. Serve quickly, or the nicely piped topping will melt.

[CureCraftKing]

fully cooked kielbasa and sauerkraut covered in a braising vessel at 400 for an hour. Done. You could even throw a couple of of quartered yukon gold potatoes in there, although it may take a little longer than an hour, but you wouldn't need to worry about the sausage & kraut over cooking. Serve with a good mustard, crusty bread, beer, garnish, your good to go

[CureCraftKing]

bonus points for making your own kielbasa, that would really boost the entire dish.

I mix a little brown sugar into the kraut

[Emily_R]

Chicken Marbella -- just made it for company this weekend... Marinates over night, then cooks for an hour... I usually make it with couscous, which cooks in an instant... I'll usually do it with a make-ahead vegetable, like I'll braise some swiss chard either the day before or earlier that day, and then just heat it up while making the couscous.

[KarenDW]

arroz con pollo

[David A. Goldfarb]

Do you have a rice cooker, and do you like rice? If you do, then any kind of braised dish or stew can be served with rice, and you can set it up an hour in advance, and it will be ready when you're ready to eat. The rice won't necessarily take an hour, but I like it to sit a bit after it's done cooking. In my opinion, a fancy rice cooker is unnecessary, unless you plan to use it for things other than rice. Commercial rice cookers only have two settings at most--on and warm or on and off (since there are also commercial rice warmers that do nothing but keep rice warm).

[Blether]

... or you can serve your stew / braise with bread. Naan being hard (and relatively labour-intensive) to replicate at home without the right kind of oven, I like buttered wholewheat toast with a lazy curry - typically a microwave-reheated one.

I mostly cook rice by bringing it to the boil and simmering in the oven for 25 mins at 170C. You might find you can time it to cook in the oven from cold, somewhere north of an hour. Otherwise,

Lancashire hotpot

Some good, thick sausages roasted on a rack so the juice can drip on previously par-boiled potatoes / roots, or into a dish of red cabbage, apple & juniper

Shepherd's pie, with a good layer of veggies

Cottage pie, likewise

Fish pie in the same vein, i.e. with mashed potato topping - use a mornay sauce and white fish; add peas or mushrooms according to fancy; or use a white sauce without the cheese, maybe mixing in sliced fennel

Pie (pastry pie) of any kind with a balanced filling, like chicken & leek, or beef with carrots / root veggies

Pasties as seen in A Pocketful of Dough

[djyee100]

A surprising number of dishes, even though they are cooked over an hour in the oven, require some kind of tending now and then. I'm curious, why the interest in something that you can neglect in the oven and serve right away? Are you about to cook a dinner for multitudes, all by yourself?

- Just about any kind of potato gratin cooks in the oven for an hour, unattended.

- Sartu, a Neapolitan variation on lasagna, is a meal-in-one dish--layers of meatballs, tomato sauce, mushrooms, chicken livers, peas, boiled eggs, and mozzarella cheese, in a rice crust. It's rich and yummy, and I'm starting to think it's time for me to cook this one again. I like Joyce Goldstein's recipe in her cookbook, Italian Slow and Savory. The recipe is available on Googlebooks, Page 109.

http://books.google.com/books?id=uaJXsT3y6qUC&printsec=frontcover&dq=joyce+goldstein&cd=10#v=onepage&q=sartu&f=false

- Another possibility, also Italian. (Are these grandmother's recipes for cooking in the oven while the family goes to Mass?) Chicken in Bread (Pollo in Pane), a chicken stuffed with chicken livers and vegetables, wrapped in bread dough, then baked. The dish comes to the table as a big golden bread dome. You cut off the top and serve some chicken with stuffing and a chunk of bread, which has absorbed the juices during cooking.

http://www.bigoven.com/132590-Pollo-in-Pane-recipe.html

I haven't cooked this particular recipe, but it's close to the one I used to make. I suggest adding some fresh chopped rosemary, thyme and /or sage to the mirepoix. An egg wash on the dough before baking will make a showy, golden brown bread dome. I cooked my pollo in pane for 1 1/2 hrs in a 375 degree oven, and let it rest for about 30 mins before serving.

The recipe doesn't give you the bread dough recipe, so try this one.

Bread Dough: Dissolve 1 TB active dry yeast and a pinch of sugar in 1/2 cup of warm water. Then combine the yeast in a bowl with 1 1/2 lbs (approx 5 cups) of unbleached white flour, 2 tsp salt, and about 1 1/2 cups of warm water to form a soft dough. Knead until the dough is smooth and shiny. Place in an oiled bowl, cover, and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours. Deflate the dough, and use as directed in the recipe. Yields about 2 lbs of bread dough.

[Doodad]

Blether beat me to it.

Pot pie. Full meal deal.

Pot Roast.

Roast chicken on a bed of root vege.

Chili with chuck wagon biscuits at the last minute

Curries can be left unattended and the rice would take awhile as well.

[Chris Hennes]

Y'all are brilliant, there are some great suggestions here. djyee100, the backstory here is that on days when I need the car I have to pick up my wife at the end of the day. As this can be pretty late sometimes, I would prefer to have dinner ready and waiting when we get home (it's about 45 minutes round trip, depending on traffic). I've played around with things like leaving a pizza dough circle to rise and just topping and baking when I get home, but considering how slowly my oven preheats to a pizza-appropriate temperature, it's not quite what I'm looking for. So a few things done last-minute is fine, but I'd love for the main part of the meal to be ready and waiting (and preferably smelling good!) when we get home.

[weinoo]

I think a pilaf can sit in the oven for an hour or so with no ill effects. So, while you're briase is finishing braising, or your stew is finishing stewing, your pilaf can be finishing...pilafing?

[Darienne]

I'm not sure if anyone suggested something in a slow cooker.

I have to admit I have four of them (one gift and 3 second-hand) and have never used them for making anything. They are great for keeping things warm for large groups, especially soup, and also for candying whatever I candy.

[Chris Hennes]

My "slow cooker" is a dutch oven in the oven, so most of the stews suggested above are basically done that way.

[djyee100]

Oho. You need a convenient dish to accommodate commuting. I'm a little disappointed. I would prefer that you're about to throw a fabulous dinner party for multitudes.

Along the same lines as the chicken marbella, I like Chicken with Figs and Apricots from the Silver Palate cookbook. The recipe is here:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/member/views/CHICKEN-WITH-FIGS-SILVER-PALATE-1234269

You could serve it with polenta, which you can cook ahead of time and which will stay warm on the stovetop for an hour. I cook Judy Rodgers' version in her Zuni Cafe cookbook. It's similar to David Tanis's recipe, available here & buried in the middle of the blog entry.

http://shadowcook.com/tag/polenta/

Has anyone mentioned slow-cooked pork butt? One of my faves, a six-hour pork roast from the Mimosa restaurant in LA. I discovered the recipe one day while procrastinating on my work and surfing on the web.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Six-Hour-Pork-Roast-102530

I also like Shirley Corriher's recipe for slow-cooked pork, which she has sometimes called Luau Pork. I prefer adding more rather than less of worcestershire sauce, 1/3 cup. This adapted recipe says you can't open the oven door, but I do. I also cook the pork roast for about 6 hrs. If you can get the rice cooker going, and make some pineapple salsa ahead of time, you'll have a tasty dinner.

http://www.ochef.com/r49.htm

[Kim Shook]

Chris - I don't know if casseroles are your thing, but this one is really good and actually goes from freezer to oven for 2 hours, turning the pieces once after one hour.

Kim, as usual, the recipe sounds divine, but when do you put in the cranberry sauce? I would think it would go in at step 2, but maybe I'm nuts or did I miss something? Thanks!

Doh! Thanks so much for catching that. I've been making this dish for more than 30 years and I guess I just mentally inserted the proper directions! Yes, it goes in at step 2, like you thought. And you would sprinkle it with GINGER rather than the less known spice, GINER (which sounds vaguely obscene anyway). I'll be updating it on my webpage! Thank you, again!!

[judiu]

Chris - I don't know if casseroles are your thing, but this one is really good and actually goes from freezer to oven for 2 hours, turning the pieces once after one hour.

Kim, as usual, the recipe sounds divine, but when do you put in the cranberry sauce? I would think it would go in at step 2, but maybe I'm nuts or did I miss something? Thanks!

Doh! Thanks so much for catching that. I've been making this dish for more than 30 years and I guess I just mentally inserted the proper directions! Yes, it goes in at step 2, like you thought. And you would sprinkle it with GINGER rather than the less known spice, GINER (which sounds vaguely obscene anyway). I'll be updating it on my webpage! Thank you, again!!

You're most welcome; proofreading is just part of the services I offer...

[iguana]

Chris, there was an article by Susie Middleton in Fine Cooking #62, from 2003 that might interest you. It was a series of recipes for marinated roast chicken-- the chicken is marinated, then the pieces are placed in a pan, the marinade is poured over, and the whole shebang is baked for the magic one hour. The recipe suggests that you baste at the 30 minute mark, but I never do. Here is my favorite, the triple-sesame roast chicken:

http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/triple-sesame-ginger-roast-chicken.aspx?ac=fp

and here is the article:

http://www.finecooking.com/articles/marinade-roast-chicken-great-pan-sauce.aspx?ac=fp

Sorry, these pages do require a subscription. But, aha, Google is your friend-- here is the sesame recipe from some blog:

http://unfussyfare.com/2009/triple-sesame-ginger-chicken/

The blogger uses chicken thighs, but FC uses a whole cut up bird-- I find that either works. Also, FC has a fussy way of putting in the garlic-- I just mix it with the rest of the marinade. That reminds me, I should make this again soon, it is really superb. If the traffic reports look bad, you could probably reduce the temperature and cook for longer!

Cheers, Jen