Making the most of the Morso Forno
Making the most of the Morso Forno seems an obvious thing to do – use the oven for cooking and when you’re eaten use it as a space heater. Well, err, obviously!! What we also think about is using the top of the oven to cook on as well. It’s a great source of heat and a good place to balance a pan and cook something there as well as in the oven. Here are a few of our ideas of what you can cook on top of your Morso Forno but do join us here at the cooking school if you’d like to find out more!
Making the most of the Morso Forno – Slow cooked Tomatoes with Herbs
This is a delicious dish and you can have it cooking slowly away on top of the forno whilst you cook some potatoes and steaks in the oven itself. Peel and finely slice an onion and then mix it with 1tbsp olive oil and a good pinch of dried herbs – Herbes de Provence or oregano or thyme are our favourites. Place the onion mixture in a small pan and on top of it, arrange6-8 very rip tomatoes, cut in half to cover the onions and the surface of the pan. Drizzle over a little more oil and sprinkle with a good pinch of salt and pepper. Sit the pan on top of the Forno and cook slowly for a good 20 minutes. This really intensifies the flavours of the tomatoes and mean you can cook something else inside the oven itself – steak and chips, cooked breakfast, flatbreads….
Making the most of the Morso Forno – Strawberry Sauce
We came up with this idea when we had a big punnet of strawberries that were getting overripe and a bit soggy. Hull the strawberries and put them in a flat pan on top of the Forno. Let them cook on top of the oven – they will release all their juices and then let these evaporate to get a thick strawberry coulis. You don’t need to add any sugar and the berries should be sweet enough and will intensify in flavour as the juices evaporate. Serve hot over vanilla icecream or cooled down with yoghurt and granola for breakfast. You can use lots of different fruits too – apricots, cherries, raspberries, plums, peaches, nectarines….
Making the most of the Morso Forno – Chocolate and Orange Welsh Cakes
These are a big hit – all you need is a silicon liner to lie on top of your Morso forno and you can cook the Welsh cakes on the top of the oven until they are golden brown on each side.
- 225g self-raising flour
- 1 tsp mixed spice
- 50g caster sugar (+20g for dusting)
- pinch of salt
- 100g chopped pieces of orange-flavoured chocolate
- 25g candied ginger finely chopped
- 110g butter
- 1 large egg
- A little extra milk if too dry
- Sift together the dry ingredients into a bowl, then rub in the butter (get in there with your fingers and rub until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs).
- Stir in the chocolate and chopped ginger.
- Mix in the egg until the dough comes together (if it’s too dry, add a splash of milk).
- Roll out and cut into rounds.
- Put a silicon liner on top of the oven and put the Welsh cakes on this to cook until golden brown on each side – about 3 minutes per side. If you haven’t got an oven like this, use a skillet on the hob with a small amount of melted butter in it.
- While still the Welsh cakes are still warm, sprinkle with a little caster sugar and then scoff!
Making the most of the Morso Forno – Potato Farls; ingredients
This is from our Woodfired Flatbreads and Pancakes and is a great accompaniment to a cooked breakfast – serve with some roast tomatoes, crispy bacon, fried eggs – all done in the woodfired oven of course! Also delicious as a supper dish with some Boston baked beans and slow roast pork
Makes 8 Farls
Oven at 3 Mississippi
- 450g cooked and mashed floury potatoes
- 50g butter, softened
- 100g plain (all purpose) Flour, plus extra for rolling out
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- Salt and black pepper
- Extra butter, for cooking
- Optional: 100g grated cheese. Chopped herbs
Making the most of the Morso Forno – Potato Farls; method
- Add the butter to the potatoes and mash until smooth.
- Sift the flour with the baking powder and salt and pepper over the potato mix and combine well – this is easiest to do with your hands. Taste for seasoning and adjust, if required.
- The mixture should make a smooth dough. You can add more flour if the mixture is too wet and a little milk if it is too dry.
- Divide the dough into two halves. Form one piece into a ball, then pat it out on a floured surface into a rough circle with a diameter of about 15 cm/6” and a thickness of 1cm/½”.
- Pop a shallow frying pan into the oven and warm it through. Add a little butter and use a brush to spread it round the pan. Transfer the first circle of dough into the pan. Use a dough scraper to mark four quarters into the dough but don’t cut all the way through.
- Cook for around 5 minutes in the oven with the door on until the farls are golden brown on the base. Flip the farl over and cook on the other side for another 3 or 4 minutes. Remove to a warm plate. Or cook the farls on top of your Morso forno as we did with the Welsh cakes above.
- Repeat the process with the other half of the dough mix.
Hopefully that’s give you some ideas but do let us know what you end cooking on your Forno roof.
Catch up soon – happy cooking!
David and Holly