Okay, off the top of my head this one is a fish cake recipe that I adjusted when the oven wasn't working. It became a stand alone dish by upping the amount of fish compared to that required to make the "cakes". Sort of a fishy colcannon.
Get some smoked cod or other "orange" fish. normally cheap here and readily available, but you can substitute other fish, or canned seafood. Shrimps and crab meat work well too. Depends greatly on the company that smokes the fish, and the fish as well, but smoked cod can be very salty. Sometimes it pays to rinse it first. Anyway, in a microsafe container (with a lid preferably), put fish in single layers with a splash of water and a blob of butter on each fillet. Cover with lid or cling wrap but cling wrap can be fickle in my experience. Zap until cooked but don't over cook cos it will toughen. Let cool sufficiently so that you can bone and skin the fillet(s) and flake the fillet, but you still want it to keep some heat. Put to one side covered in foil to keep warm.
Peel as many spuds as you want but sufficient so that the spud to fish ratio is about 60-70% potato. Cut into chunks and put in a microwave safe container, add a spoonful or two of water and maybe some minced or powdered garlic and pepper, if you fancy it. (Normally, I would add salt but the fish can be quite salty, so I refrain here.) Cover with lid/wrap until cooked. Start to mash potatoes and add butter and milk to potato as you go. Best to do this when hot as you don't require as much butter. If you can whip it up a bit it makes for a lighter dish. Add some dried parsley/chives or other herb to your taste. Maybe some sliced spring onion if you have it. (I like some sauted leeks. You can always soften the leeks in the microwave too but they wouldn't be sauted. Similar though.) Go easy on the herbs if you use fresh as they can over power. Personally I like to add some ketchup and Worcestershire sauce here as well, but all the seasonings are to your taste and also depends a bit on the protein that you have added. When mash is mixed through, add the flaked fish but mix carefully as you want the fish to still be recognisable. You may need to reheat before serving as micro-ed mash can cool quickly. If you do, you may want to top with some grated cheddar or parmesan for an added texture. You can also add chilli, or sweet chilli sauce through the final stir for a bit of extra heat.
Don't forget you can get those pasta and sauce dry packs too. You add water, milk and marg to the mix and cook entirely in the microwave. But don't make that the meal. Make it the start of the meal. The other night, I grabbed one of those packs, added a can of drained tuna, some sliced olives, quartered cherry tomatoes, grilled zucchini chunks, sliced courgettes and some cheese. Almost added some mustard and artichoke hearts but didn't at the last moment. Not sure why. I had all the bits in the fridge as standard, but the tuna and the pasta pack cost me A$2 combined. Fed me for three meals. What I am saying is use it as a base for a meal, and jazz it up. It will taste better, be more nutritious (depending on what you add) and stretch further.
You can get rice cookers for the microwave which may be a good investment for you. Likewise, egg poachers and browning plates. They don't have to cost much but will help you use your microwave more fully, if you are not confident using the crockery you already have. Get a bamboo steamer basket from an Asian grocery. You can then steam fish and veges very quickly with little mess. All in the microwave still.
A paper bag is all you need to cook popcorn and prawn crackers.
Porridge is easily zapped but I would recommend soaking for a while prior to doing so. The results are more similar to stove top cooking then.
This is the link to the manual for my microwave. From about page 23 (?) it has recipes. Heaps of recipes. Real food.
http://panasonic.com.au/content/library/files/F002049.pdf
See how you go. Let me know if I can help further. Sometimes I am a bit slow on responding as I don't log on to the PC every day but if you PM me, I will respond sooner or later.
i have made meat loaf in micro. try to find used micro cooking book. if you would like recipe p.m me and i will send to you.
