cooking : air fryer style

Since we bought our air fryer in the New Year, we’ve noticed that we are definitely using the conventional oven much less. It’s been used maybe three or four times, if that, and if we were in our home, I’m sure we’d noticed a reduction in energy consumption. However, we’re not, so it’s difficult to assess if cooking mostly with the air fryer, is more economical – but we are absolutely sure, it’s been a whole lot more fun. Certain things don’t necessarily cook more quickly, but they seem to cook a whole lot better. Eggs have been a revelation – boiled eggs are things of magic. You can time your preferred style of egg to perfection – in our air fryer, it’s about 7 minutes for a golden, runny egg or about 12 minutes for a beautifully hard boiled egg. For some reason, the shells seem to peel off a whole lot easier, too. We’ve done fried eggs too – gain, depending on how you like them, just adjust the time. Bacon is delicious – it holds the shape and size of the rasher, rather than them shrivelling, like they do when grilled. And the absence of fat is a massive plus. The last batch of smoked bacon was probably the best I’ve had. (And yes, I do like my fried eggs to have quite well done yolks, as I can’t be doing with runny yellows).

Padron peppers have also been a revelation. I’ve always just assumed that magic was employed to produce these charred beauties – I have to admit I hadn’t really given that much thought to how they might be cooked conventionally, but I’m not guessing a skillet, with hot olive oil, on the hob, might produce similar results? However, in the air fryer, they came out just perfecto. Washed and thoroughly dried, drizzled with olive oil, chilli flakes, ea salt and ground black pepper, with a sprinkle of lemon rind – don’t forget this as it makes ALL the difference – after about 12 minutes (turned halfway through) they were charred beautifully. And, oh my word, the taste. The salty, lemony flavour against the sharp flavour of the peppers was delicious.

But, it’s been fish which has been our biggest success so far. Frozen fillets of white fish have worked an absolute treat whenever we’ve done them, but I think our stand out meal was homemade chips (in the air fryer) and fillets, straight from the freezer, marinated in lemon butter with garlic and capers. The air fryer was heated to 200°C and the fish cooked for 20 minutes (turning half way through). The most perfectly cooked fillet – crispy around the edges and plump and juicy throughout. Way better than any filleted fish we’ve done in the oven or on the hob.

We’ve done crispy puffed butter beans, halloumi cheese, frozen oven chips, veggie meatballs, roasted potatoes – and we will continue to experiment. So far, nothing has been a disaster and I’m finding that whatever we fancy for dinner, a quick google search will usually reveal many air fryer recipe options.

Ours is quite a small machine – 3.5litre capacity and so we are actually considering buying another one, with a larger cooking basket, or with dual baskets. We think the initial expenditure will be worth it as we can then cook thing simultaneously – at the moment, sometimes we do need to keep things warm in the oven, as other things cook, therefore kind of defeating the object. It’ll also save on washing up, as rather than multiple baking trays, casserole dishes etc, the baskets can just be used. I can honestly say I’d never seriously considered an air fryer before, as I just assumed they were the latest fad. And they may well be, but it’s a fad that has ramped up our cooking in the kitchen and reduced the amount of time spent actually “cooking”. A really good purchase and one I would heartily recommend – if only for the frozen fillets of fish…

Published on 22nd January 2025

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