Galley Goodness
An Ode to my Omnia (AKA the Omnimonopea)
Do you know what an omnimonopea is? I thought it was something I learned in English class decades ago. A tidbit that I had filed away to use on a brighter day. I asked my good friend Google, and he said it doesn’t exist, it’s not a thing from English class or any class at all. He told me about onomatopoeias, but I think that’s just the buzzing and clicking and gallunking of his faulty brain circuits. I’m sure that omnimonopea is a word.
Anyway, my Omnia stovetop oven’s name is Omnimonopea. So there.
Newsflash! There won’t be anything here that isn’t written elsewhere! Carolyn at The Boat Galley has written extensively on the Omnia, but I like my Omnia stovetop oven so much that I felt obligated to give it a blog shoutout.
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| A fluffy, scrumptious "Dutch baby" - the perfect breakfast. Thank you Alton Brown. |
Our Lagoon 380 has an oven, which is pretty cool. But it takes a long time to preheat and uses a lot of propane doing so. And when it’s 8,000 degrees Kelvin inside the saloon, I don’t want to use the oven. And sometimes I just want to bake something quickly, like one of those little 4-packs of Pillsbury crescent roll dough. In land life I used the electric toaster oven a lot, but that was a real drain on the boat batteries.
Oh, ok, maybe I will say something new. Here’s a quick and tasty way to have fresh baked pastries on-board for a fancy (feeling) weekend breakfast or brunch. Simply make the crescent rolls as the directions indicate, but roll in chocolate chips in the center. Viola! Chocolate Croissants (Pain au Chocolat for you purists). Ok, maybe referring to Pillsbury dough as “Pain au Chocolat” is going too far, but I’m eating it on a French-built yacht, so…well I digress. They’re yummy, quick, cheap and fresh. The Pillsbury dough containers will last several months if you keep them dry and refrigerated. This is a favorite go-to brunch item aboard Independence (when we can find crescent rolls!)
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| Roll chocolate chips into your crescent rolls before baking. You're welcome :) |
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| Lucy loves her pain au chocolat. |
So where does the Omnia come in you ask? Well, don’t you see? I just made those crescent rolls in the Omnia without preheating the oven and sweating my rear off in a hot boat! The Omnia base heats up over my medium sized burner in about 2 minutes, the main dish holds the 4 rolls perfectly and the whole thing is cooked and done in about 8 minutes. I couldn’t have even gotten the big oven preheated in 10 minutes!
I honestly use this thing daily, if not 2 or 3 times a day. Brownies? No problem! If you are making brownies from a box, just pour it in the pan and follow the directions. The Omnia is about the size of an 8x8 pan for recipe planning. How about bread? No problem! (it’s just shaped like a giant doughnut….mmmm, doughnuts!!) While we’re at it, how about a doughnut shaped Ring of Cookie!
I think I’ve made it pretty clear that it is the baked goods that win my heart. But, if you are, shall we say, a "healthy person", one that likes “vegetables" (AKA vile weeds!) then the Omnia is for you too. Roasted root vegetables? No problem! Toss in EVOO, sprinkle with salt (kosher of course!) and pepper and roast away.
So, in closing I just want to say thank you Swedish people. You’ve given us Abba, Ikea, Volvos and now the Omnia stovetop oven. Seriously, thanks! I haven’t turned on my actual oven since I bought this thing.
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| Made from scratch Chocolate Hazelnut Scones. Yum. |
TIPS for using the Omnia:
*Season the pan. If you’re a Lucy and don’t know what I’m talking about and are reaching for salt, seasoning is what chefs did before they were spoiled by Caphalon and T-fal. You need to bake a good amount of oil into the pan and then keep it clean by just wiping it down with water (no soap!). Over time, the layer of oil will keep building and it will beat any non-stick wonder product made up in a chemists lab.
*Preheat the base as described in the Omnia directions. Use high heat for this. Add the pan with it’s lid and leave it on high heat for 1-2 minutes. Then reduce heat to medium-low for the remainder of the cooking time. Actual cooking is done at low or medium-low, no higher! Don’t forget to turn it down after the pre-heating like I always do!
*Keep loose items away from the center cone as much as possible. The center cone is by far the hottest part of the Omnia and that’s where things burn first.
*Don’t rely on time. You’ll need to check the food visually or with a thermometer to check for doneness. For baked goods like brownies, the toothpick test is best.
*The Omnia comes with a little rack to keep foods off the bottom. Don’t put that in a locker under a bunch of other pans and forget about it for 6 months. It’s pretty useful. (I’ve just discovered this, since I’ve owned it for 6 and a half months and did not follow this advice!)
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| A personal size frozen pizza, cut into slices and fit in the Omnia on the rack. I had doubts, but it worked perfectly! |
6 comments
Those scones look amazing! I really want an Omnia but can't quite bring myself to spend the money on it. I keep hoping one will find its way to the free table at our marina where I can take it back to my boat and give it a nice new home.
ReplyDeleteIt's basically just a piece of aluminum, so you'd think they would sell it for less than $30 (instead if $90 or so!) I'd assume it's for us regular folks- Kim Kardashian doesn't care how much propane her chef is using or how hot their un-airconditioned house gets!
DeleteI wondered how useful one would be if you already have an oven . . . you got me at brownies (but the savings in propane and added heat are good reasons too).
ReplyDeleteStephanie @ SV CAMBRIA
It's just so much more efficient than the oven! Especially since it's just the two of us.
DeleteWow. That looks like a great invention and a better option than an oven, especially on hot days. I'd be interested in the time savings and not having to stick my head in a hot oven. You're quite the baker, Lucy! Maybe there will be an off-brand selling these things in the future...
ReplyDeleteThey're imported- so if a US manufacturer made them I'm sure it would be more affordable! And it's Matt that is the galley King- I'm just the expert eater!
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