I am 87, single, and do not want to heat up an oven to bake for a short time. Could I just put the 'baking' recipe in a top of the range pan, and accomplish the same results?
I'm not asking about cakes or cookies, but chicken dishes, roasted carrots, peppers, etc. For a single person, it seems to be a waste of electricity (and cost) to heat up an oven for 10-30 minutes of baking, for example fish, etc.
No, cooking in the oven and cooking on the stove will not produce the same results. The distribution of heat is completely different, the cooking times will be different, and you will have to attend to the pan while cooking to heat things evenly. You are better off starting from a stovetop recipe with the same ingredients than modifying an oven recipe for the stovetop.
There are some nice (though expensive!) toaster ovens available now where you can bake things with timed cooking. I have one friend who cooked a duck in her toaster oven and was pleased with the outcome. I am not sure how these compare in efficiency to real ovens; although the space you are heating is much smaller, the insulation is probably not as good.
