NuWave Oven Cuban-Style Pork Roast

Using a NuWave Oven can be a huge time saver, but it's also a great way to cook dinner without heating up the kitchen.  Here in Florida, keeping the kitchen cool is really important in the summer months, so I'm working on more recipes to use during those warmer upcoming days.

This is one recipe that I couldn't wait to rework.  Cuban Sandwiches are a favorite for my family and this recipe is a delicious twist on our original Grilled Cuban Sandwich recipe.

The "original" Cuban sandwich was said to have been created near Tampa, Florida, but there seems to be several variations of the "original".   The sandwich usually consists of sliced pork, deli ham, Swiss cheese, and sliced dill pickles.  These 4 ingredients are layered onto sliced Cuban bread and topped with a generous squirt of yellow mustard.  The sandwich is then grilled on a panini press, or similar type of grill, and toasted until the bread is crunchy, and it is a most delicious sandwich!

So here is where the NuWave Oven comes in.  I've always baked a pork loin roast for this sandwich instead of the traditional pork shoulder roast for two reasons.  First, it's much quicker to cook a pork loin than a 4 or 5 pound pork shoulder.  That is a big chunk of meat and it takes quite a while to cook.   Secondly, and most important to me, the pork loin is a leaner cut of meat.  It roasts beautifully, it's easy to slice and you save a lot of fat and calories.  So for us the loin works better and look however beautiful the crust is when cooked in the NuWave.

For this recipe we used orange juice and lime juice in the pork marinade, both of which are frequently used in Cuban cooking.  (The juices are what give the pork that nice crispy, caramelized crust.)

So here is the finished sandwich.  Moist pork loin layered with the ham, Swiss cheese and pickles, then grilled to perfection.  A few crunchy chips and pickled beets on the side make a delicious Cuban-style dinner.  Enjoy!!

3/4 cup  Orange Juice
1/4 cup  Lime Juice
1/2 tsp  Cumin
1/2 tsp  Oregano
1/2 tsp  Onion Powder
1 tsp  Sea Salt
1/2 tsp  Ground Black Pepper

1-1/2 lb  Lean Pork Loin Roast

Combine the ingredients for the marinade in a large zip lock bag, then place the pork roast in the bag.   Place the roast in the refrigerator and marinate for at least 4 hours or overnight, turning several times.

Prepare the NuWave cooking tray by lining the bottom tray with heavy duty foil.  (This will make cleanup quick and easy.)

Remove the roast from the bag and reserve the marinade.  Place the roast on the 4-inch rack of the NuWave Oven, set the power level to 7 and the timer to 20 minutes.  While the roast is cooking, heat the marinade in a small saucepan and bring the mixture to a boil.  Reduce the heat to low and cook for 10 minutes, then remove the marinade from the heat.

When the 20-minute timer beeps, turn the roast over and drizzle with several spoons of the marinade.  Set the timer for 10 minutes, drizzle the marinade over the roast again and set the timer for a final 10 minutes.  Use a meat thermometer to check the internal temperature of the roast and add a few more minutes if needed.  If the roast is up to the desired temperature, remove the roast to a platter, cover and keep warm for about 10 minutes, before thinly slicing the pork.

NuWave Oven Italian Pepperoni Chicken Thighs

I'm always looking for new ways to use my NuWave, and cooking chicken is my favorite.  The  NuWave is a great way to roast chicken because so much of the fat is drained off during the cooking process.  The chicken remains moist and tender, but the fat melts off and into the drip pan for easy disposal.  And, by lining the drip pan with heavy duty foil, clean up is fast and easy.

So tonight we tried something new, and this is a super easy recipe for those of you looking for a new way to use your NuWave Oven. We used bone-in chicken thighs and placed two large pepperoni slices under the skin.  Next, a spoonful of garlic olive oil sauce on top added an extra layer of flavor to these perfectly cooked thighs.  Quick and simple, but full of flavor.

8  Chicken Thighs
16  Large Pepperoni Slices

Olive Oil Sauce

1/3 cup  Olive Oil
2 TB  Fresh Minced Garlic
1-1/2 tsp  Dried Oregano, crushed
1 tsp  Garlic Powder
1 tsp  Onion Powder
1/2 tsp  Salt
1/4 tsp  Ground Black Pepper
1/4 tsp  Cayenne Pepper

In a small glass bowl combine all sauce ingredients, stirring until blended.  Let the mixture sit for 15 minutes before applying to the chicken.

Rinse the chicken thighs under cool water and pat dry with paper towels.  Season both sides of the chicken with salt and pepper, then slide two overlapping pepperoni slices under the skin of each thigh, replacing the skin when finished.  Place the thighs skin side down on the 4" rack leaving a bit of space between the pieces, if possible.

Place the heat setting to HI and cook for 12 minutes.  When the timer beeps, turn the thighs over, to skin side up, and brush the tops with the garlic olive oil mixture.  Reset the timer for 12 minutes on HI and press start.  When the timer beeps again check the chicken to make sure the juices are clear and the chicken is cooked through.  If more cooking time is needed, rearrange the chicken pieces to ensure even browning, and add a few extra minutes to the timer.  (The thighs we used were all a medium to large size so I added 3 extra minutes to the cooking time and they turned out beautiful.)

Place the chicken pieces on a platter, drizzle lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with parsley.  Enjoy!!

NuWave Oven Baked Buffalo Chicken Wings

The NuWave Oven is an interesting gadget, and I'm sure many of you have seen these advertised on the weekend infomercials.  The oven has a large domed top and uses infrared heat as a cooking source.  During the infomercial, the hosts show different foods you can cook in the oven, but the problem is, once this oven is delivered, many people just don't know what to do with it.  The cookbook that's enclosed with the oven is more than a little vague and just doesn't give you a lot of information so you can actually cook with this thing.  The answer to this problem is simple. Experiment!

Some people think this little oven is just a gimmick and I was a little skeptical too, but the truth is, you will never cook a more juicy and evenly roasted chicken than with this oven.  Really!  Here are a few recipes that we have tested with wonderful results  NuWave Baked Chicken, NuWave Baked Chicken Drumsticks, NuWave Oven Roast Beef. 

Now, on to my latest challenge, NuWave Oven Baked Chicken Wings.  I've been wanting to try this recipe for a long time and I was thrilled with the results.  We used the same breading technique and the same sauce that we use in our Oven Baked Buffalo Chicken Wings, it was just the actual baking method that changed.  These wings are super easy to make.  Just double coat with a cornmeal breading, then bake it the NuWave for about 15 minutes.  You can coat these with your own sauce or try our Buffalo Wing Sauce detailed below.  Either way, you're in store for a delicious batch of wings.  Enjoy!!

             

3/4 cup Flour
3/4 cup Cornmeal
2 tsp Seasoned Salt
1 TB Garlic Powder
1 tsp Black Pepper
1 tsp Garlic Salt
9 Chicken Wings cut into drumettes, center wing pieces and wing tips (discard tips) You will have 18 pieces total

Combine the flour, cornmeal, salt, garlic powder, pepper, and garlic salt in a large bowl.  Add the wings, turning to evenly coat on all sides.  Place the coated wings on a baking sheet and let rest for 5 minutes, then recoat a second time in the breading.

Set up the NuWave and place the wings on the 4" cooking rack, leaving a bit of room between wings, if possible, to allow for even cooking. Cook on HIGH for 8 minutes, then turn wings over and cook for 6 - 8 minutes longer on HIGH. (Depending on the thickness of the wings, you will want to test them for doneness after about 6 or 8 minutes, see if they are cooked through, and add another 3 - 5 minutes, if needed. The juices should run clear when fully cooked.)

While the wings are cooking you can prepare the wing sauce.

Buffalo Wing Sauce
3/4 stick Salted Butter
1 TB Red Pepper Flakes
4 TB Garlic Powder
1 tsp Black Pepper
1/4 tsp Salt
3/4 cup Franks Red Hot Original Sauce
1 TB  White Vinegar

Melt butter in saucepan then add red pepper flakes, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Heat and stir until you get a roux consistency. Add Franks Red Hot sauce and vinegar and heat to just under a boil. Simmer for 10 - 15 minutes on low heat.

Dip the cooked wings into the sauce one at a time and coat thoroughly with sauce and place in serving bowl.

NuWave Oven Roast Beef

For his Father's Day dinner this year my husband requested French Dip Sandwiches.  This is a delicious sandwich, but heating the house up in the summertime just to cook a roast is not my favorite thing to do. So I decided to try Plan B.

I pulled out my NuWave Oven and decided to use it to make the roast beef.  I've only used the oven for whole chickens and chicken drumsticks, and I've been wanting to try it for other foods, so today was the day.

I bought a bottom round roast that weighed in at 3-1/2 pounds and seasoned it generously with seasoned salt, lots of ground black pepper and a little mist of olive oil from a spray bottle, just to keep it from sticking to the roasting grid.  I gave the grid itself a quick spray too and lined the bottom drip pan with heavy duty foil. (Zero cleanup on the pan..yay!!)

I placed the roast on the 1-inch rack with the fat side up, inserted an oven-proof thermometer in the side of the roast and set the timer for 20 minutes on HI.  **Make sure the thermometer does not touch the metal edges of the oven.

After 20 minutes the timer beeped and I flipped the roast over.  (It was already smelling amazing!!)  I set the timer for another 20 minutes and started the oven again.  I kept a close eye on the roast for this second half of cook time.  The roast was browning nicely but the thermometer was not quite high enough, reaching about 115 degrees.  I wanted to get to the 120-125 range before turning off the heat, so I added another 10 minutes to the timer.  This extra cook time brought the temp up to 123 degrees, which was good with me.  I turned the oven off and let the roast rest in the oven for 10 minutes longer, which brought the internal temp up to a juicy 133 degrees.  By the time I was slicing the meat it had a nice crust of salt and pepper on the outside and the inside was a perfect medium-rare.  So yummy.

   

Here are some pictures of the whole process.  For those of you who own a NuWave, drag that thing out and give it a try this summer and you might find you can save yourself some money.  By cooking the beef in the NuWave I had the chance to season the meat the way we liked and since the roast was on sale ($3.99 per pound) I saved about $18 over the price of roast beef from the deli ($9.99 per pound).  A delicious money-saving meal and I didn't even have to heat up the house.

We served the sandwiches with sliced swiss cheese and horseradish-mayo and a little bowl of french onion soup to dip the sandwich into.  Enjoy!

NuWave Baked Chicken Drumsticks

Now that the outside temperature is heating up, it's once again time to turn on the A/C...and it's only March!!  This is the time of year when I start thinking of new ways to get dinner on the table, without heating up the house.  One way to do that is with a NuWave Oven. 

Seasoned and ready to cook

This little oven is so easy to use, that I hardly ever use the big oven any more for cooking a roasted whole chicken .  The skin cooks to a golden crispy crunch and the inside is perfectly cooked and juicy!  But so far I've only used it for a whole chicken...so why not try pieces of chicken? 

Crispy outside and juicy inside

My first test using chicken drumsticks was a great success.  I used a simple coating of Seasoned Salt and Pepper, so this isn't really a recipe so much as a demonstration, but I did want you to see the crispy crunchy results.  Use any seasonings you like such as a cajun blend or italian blend and generously coat one side of the drumsticks.  Place the drumsticks seasoned side down on the grill.  You will want to flip the grilling rack over so you have the 4-inch height, not the short 1-inch height.

Since these drumsticks were pretty thick I started them on the HI setting and cooked for 12 minutes.  When the oven beeps, remove the top (be careful it does get a little warm), turn the drumsticks over and season the other side.  Replace the top of the oven and set for an additional 12 minutes.

At the end of the 12 minutes I sliced into one drumstick and they were just a tiny bit pink, so I replaced the lid and cooked 3 minutes longer, and they were ready to serve.  On a health note, while the chicken is cooking you can see all of the fat dripping off into the drip pan. (Just line the drip pan with heavy-duty foil and there's no clean up.)  This is so much healthier than having the chicken cook IN all of that fat.  Much healthier, much quicker and so easy!  Enjoy!

NuWave Oven Baked Chicken

This is my first experiment with my NuWave oven.  The chicken came out moist and juicy on the inside and crispy on the inside. I have to admit, I wasn't too sure if I would like the results that this oven promised, but now I am convinced!  Besides, it was kinda fun watching this cook..lol

     

1  Whole Chicken (I used about a 5 lb)
Seasoned Salt
Fresh Ground Black Pepper

Remove the giblets and rinse the chicken inside and out and pat dry.  Season the chicken generously with seasoned salt and pepper and place chicken breast side down in the NuWave oven.  (I used a piece of heavy-duty foil on the bottom pan to catch any drippings and cleanup was a snap.)  Set the timer for the correct amount of time for the size of bird you are cooking (this was about 1 hour 15 minutes), and press start. About halfway thru the cooking time you will need to turn the chicken over to allow for the best overall browning. Although this sounds like a hassle, it was really easy using a serving fork and a set of tongs. Just flip the bird over and hit start again.