When I first moved into my new home I decided to buy myself an air fryer. They are all the rage at the moment.
I had one of the older T-Fal ones in the UK and I am rather ashamed to say I really didn't use it like I should have done. It was overly large and my kitchen too small. It did great chips and wings, etc. but it was so large I couldn't keep it in my kitchen
It got relegated to our bedroom closet with all of the other things which were too large for storage down stairs and I have to admit, it never got used again. Sad but true.
I am that person. That person who only uses things that are easily accessible to me. If I need help to get something out to use, the truth is I just will rarely if ever use it.
Its not that I didn't want to use it, its more like it was more trouble to dig it out than it was worth. In any case I got myself an air fryer when I moved into my new home and made a promise to myself that I was going to use it. Regularly.
And I have done. I bought a Cuisinart toaster oven air fryer, which had good reviews from ATK (America's Test Kitchen). I figured I could use it for more than one purpose.
I call it the Cremator. That's because almost everything I have tried to cook in it burns and rather quickly too. Its very fierce. I've been playing with it for months now and have still not come to terms with it.
I recently decided to buy myself a smaller one and see if I could work that one out any better. Today I decided to try to fry some chicken in it and I am happy to say, I managed to do a half decent job.
I based my recipe loosely on one I found on a blog called Recipes Worth Repeating. I did make a few changes.
I came near to cremating it, but managed to stop just shy of that, and ended up with tender, juicy, well flavored chicken. A tiny tad bit darker than I would have liked.
I used smaller chicken thighs than she did and adjusted the cook time accordingly. I wanted a recipe to feed two.
I used four small bone in, skin on chicken thighs, whereas she used 5 large boneless, skinless chicken thighs. I did remove the skin and discard it, but I kept the bone in.
I did that for several reasons. One bone in chicken stays moister. Two, bone in chicken has better flavor than bone out.
I discarded the skin because I was trying to be healthier, but you could leave the skin on if you wanted to.
Having removed the skin, I knew that the coating would have a problem sticking to the chicken. What is the point of using panko bread crumbs if you can't make them stick.
I therefore soaked the chicken in some water before shaking it with the crumb and spice mixture. I wanted my crumbs to stick. I suppose you could do the same with some buttermilk.
The spice mixture is a really nice combination. You would think it would be ultra spicy, but it just isn't.
There is ground cumin, sweet paprika, curry powder (I used medium), sweet paprika, mild chili powder, salt and pepper. This was just perfect.
If you wanted it really spicy you could amp up the heat a bit by using hot paprika, and a stronger curry powder, also a stronger chili powder.
I am a huge wimp when it comes to food that bites you back. I just don't like it. I want to be able to taste all the flavors in what I am eating. I don't want to burn my mouth.
Or worse yet, at my age anyways, get a huge case of indigestion, a very real problem with me. I have gastric disease. When I was younger, the hotter the better! I prided myself on being able to eat hot peppers and all sorts without any problem.
This is no longer the case.
But cutting back a bit on the timings, using bone in chicken and dampening the chicken so that the coating adhered I ended up with some pretty tasty, crisp and juicy chicken.
I served it with some corn on the cob, mashed squash and a kale salad. Yes, that does sound healthy. Well, it did to me anyways.
I think that when you live on your own you can have a tendency to not eat properly, or at proper times. I found myself getting into that habit. I am trying to change that now.
I have spent so many years taking care of everyone else, now I need to be a bit more selfish and take care of me. In any case, this was really tasty! I highly recommend and if you don't have an air fryer, never fear. You can still cook it in the oven if you wish, with successful results.
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com
Small Batch Fried Chicken (air fryer or oven)
Yield: 2
Prep time: 5 MinCook time: 20 MinTotal time: 25 Min
Crisp, moist and delicious with a beautiful blend of spices.
Ingredients
You will need:
- 4 smallish bone in, skin on chicken thighs
For the coating:
- 1/2 cup (60g) Panko bread crumbs
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp curry powder
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp mild chili powder
- 1 tsp fine sea salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Place the breadcrumbs and all of the seasonings into a large zip lock bag.
- Have a bowl of water ready. Remove the skin from the chicken and discard. Put the skinned chicken into the bowl of water.
- Remove the chicken one piece at a time and place into the bag with the crumbs and seasonings. Shake to coat really well. Place into the basket of your air fryer (see note if oven baking). Repeat until all the pieces of chicken have been coated. Take care not to overlap the chicken pieces.
- Set the temperature on your air fryer to 350*F/180*C. Preheat if necessary. Insert the basket holding the chicken into the air fryer, top side down.
- Air fry for 10 minutes. Using a pair of tongs, carefully turn the chicken over and then air fry for a further 10 minutes.
- Remove from the air fryer and let stand for 5 minutes before serving.
Notes:
It is possible to cook this in a regular oven if you don't have an air fryer. You will still end up with incredibly delicious chicken. Prepare chicken as above and place onto a baking sheet you have sprayed with some non-stick low fat cooking spray. Preheat the oven to 400*F/200*C/ gas mark 6. Bake the chicken bottom side up for 15 minutes, flip the chicken over and bake for a further 15 to 20 minutes, or until the juices run clear.
Chocolate Raspberry Cake. Prepare yourself to fall in love. This might not be the prettiest cake in the box, but it is one of the most delicious.
It also happens to be a Chocolate Raspberry vegan cake so it is something you can bake that will please all the people in your life, especially those with food sensitivities.
There is no dairy or eggs, and no special vegan ingredients required. Just simple standard baking staples that you probably already have in your larder and cupboards.
Lets face it, its nice to be able to serve a cake that everyone will eat. This is a recipe I have adapted from the baking book, Small Batch Baking, by Saura Kline.
This cake actually appealed to me for several reasons. First of all the fact that it was Vegan.
I am not Vegan but I do have friends who are and its nice to have something they can eat as well for dessert. Its easy to do a Vegan main, but dessert gets a bit more complicated.
Secondly it appealed because it has that beautiful combination of chocolate and raspberries. They are an amazing combination.
When I cooked at the Manor I used to make these lovely Chocolate Fondant Cakes for the ladies luncheons from time to time and they always went down a real treat when I served them sitting on a pool of raspberry coulis.
The raspberry coulis was very easy to make. I just took a small bag of frozen raspberries, (about 1 1/2 cups) and popped them into a blender along with 1 TBS of lemon juice and 1/4 cup of icing sugar.
I blitzed them until smooth and then pressed the mixture through a fine sieve. Easy peasy and delicious! No cooking involved.
The cake for this recipe is actually very similar to one which I grew up with called Wacky Cake. (You can find that recipe here.)
That cake didn't have any eggs or milk or butter in it either. In fact, upon looking at it, I would say it is pretty close to being the same cake.
Dense moist and delicious and requiring nothing out of the ordinary to make. Flour, sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla, canola oil, water, vinegar and soda.
Its a great cake to make when you are low on butter, eggs and milk, and I do believe that the original recipe was developed during WW2 and rationing.
You start by making an 8 inch cake. But you do need to plan ahead, as this cake, once baked and cooled, need to be put in the freezer for 2 hours to get really cold.
I am not sure why. Once cold, you cut it in half so that you have two layers.
One layer gets popped onto a cooling rack. (Make sure you place the cooling rack over some waxed paper.) I place it on bottom side up.
This cake layer is spread with raspberry jam. Today I used seedless because that is what I had.
Fresh raspberries get layered onto the jam and then the other half of the cake, bottom side down against the berries.
I adore raspberries, but got car sick after having gorged myself on them once when I was a child. It was many years before I could face a raspberry, and my father was vacuuming raspberry seeds out of the carpeting in his car for years afterwards.
Happy to say I have outgrown my dislike of them now and really enjoy them. I make a fabulous Raspberry Celebration Cake which is loaded with them.
There are raspberries baked into the sponge and then the two layers of cake are filled with raspberry jam and vanilla butter cream. Served in slices with berries on the side, it always goes down a real treta!
Once you have the two layers of this cake sandwiched together with the jam and berries, press the layers together lightly. Just so that everything sticks.
You don't want the layers sliding apart at any point.
There is no frosting, but a simple chocolate glaze. This is also very easy to make.
You just whisk together some icing sugar, cocoa powder, water, vanilla and corn syrup until smooth.
This is much easier to do if you sift the cocoa powder and the icing sugar together into the bowl. Smooth and no lumps.
The glaze is carefully poured over the two layers of cake. (Now you know why you need some wax paper beneath the rack. It catches the overflow.)
It is quite a thin glaze, so pour it over very slowly, making sure you cover the whole surface of the cake. Do also let it drip down the sides as much as possible.
It is impossible to completely cover the sides, but do as best as you can. It does make for a lovely rustically delicious presentation if you can see the berries and jam peeking through.
This is a simple cake, that is quick to make and really delicious. I think it is a cake that is destined to become a family favorite, at least with the Vegans in the house!
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com
I am not a Vegan, but I do know good taste when I taste it and this be good taste! Pure and simple. There is also an optional Peanut butter adaptation mentioned in the notes. That also sounds gorgeous!
Chocolate Raspberry Cake
Yield: makes 6 slices
Prep time: 15 MinCook time: 30 Mininactive time: 2 HourTotal time: 2 H & 45 M
Easy to make, dairy free, vegan and delicious! Filled with raspberry jam, fresh raspberries and topped with a simple chocolate glaze.
Ingredients
For the Cake:
- 1/3 cup (80ml) canola oil
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup (195g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 cups (210g) plain all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup (25g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 cup (240ml) water
- 1 TBS white vinegar
- 1/4 cup (55g) raspberry jam
- 1 pint (170g) fresh raspberries
For the chocolate glaze:
- 1 1/2 cups (195g) icing sugar
- 2 TBS unsweetened cocoa powder
- pinch salt
- 3 TBS water
- 1 TBS corn syrup
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350*F/180*C/ gas mark 4. Butter an 8 inch square baking tin and line with baking paper. Set aside.
- Whisk the oil, vanilla, sugar and salt together in a bowl. Sift together the flour and cocoa powder and fold this into the oil mixture. Stir in the water and vinegar last until you have a really smooth batter.
- Pour into the prepared baking tin.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until the top springs back when lightly touched and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Leave to cool in the tin and then pop into the freezer until it is very cold.
- Once cold unmold from the tin and cut in half so that you have two (4 by 8-inch) pieces. Place a cooling rack over a large piece of waxed paper. Set one half cake on top, bottom side up.
- Spread the raspberry jam evenly over the cake layer. Top with the fresh raspberries. Place the second cake layer on top of the raspberries, pressing down lightly, top side up.
- Whisk all of the ingredients for the glaze together in a bowl until smooth. Pour this glaze slowly and evenly over top of the cake to cover all the edges. Leave to set at room temperature for about one hour.
- Transfer to a serving tray and cut into slices crossways to serve.
- This will keep in the refrigerator for up to three days.
Notes:
VARIATION: For a peanut butter cake, add a layer of smooth peanut butter (1/4 cup/60g) instead of the jam and berries, and adding a layer of chopped peanuts. (1/4 cup/40 grams). Top with the glaze as above. Delicious!
Easy Baked Mac and Cheese. I don't know about you, but Mac and Cheese has to be one of my all time favorite pasta dishes. It is something I never get tired of eating and I am always on the lookout for a new recipe to try.
This recipe I am sharing with you today is an adaptation for Easy Baked Mac and Cheese which I found in a cookbook of mine entitled, One Pan Wonders, by Cook's Country.
This is one of the few cookery books I chose to bring over from the UK that I had collected through the years, for several reasons.
One, you cannot fault the recipes from Cook's Country, and two, I love one pan cooking. The least amount of dishes that I have to wash at the end of the day the better! Yes folks, I can be that lazy at times!
I did cut the original recipe for this mac and cheese down by half, so that it only serves two people, but I will add that they are generous servings.
You could easily use this recipe to feed three if you chose to serve it as a side dish.
One thing which really appealed to me was that it all cooked in the one dish. A casserole dish. No need to precook the macaroni.
No need to precook a cheese sauce. You don't even have to heat up any water!
It is as simple to make as stirring things together in a casserole dish and baking them in the oven. Dry macaroni, cream and water are stirred together in a buttered casserole dish. You can also use evaporated milk in the place of cream.
If you use the low fat/no fat evaporated milk, this cuts the fat and calories down by a fair bit.
This gets covered tightly with some aluminum foil and banged into a fairly hot oven, where it starts to cook. If there is any faffing about at all, it is having to stir it periodically.
I broke it down into 10 minute increments, and stirred it every ten minutes, which worked very well.
At the end of that time your macaroni should be perfectly cooked, al dente. Now all you do it to stir in a bit of additional water and some cheese.
Two kinds of cheese are used, a strong cheddar (grated) and a process or American cheese (grated.) The two combine to make a rich cheese sauce along with the additional water.
Its an amazingly creamy and delicious sauce. You would not think these few simple ingredients could form such a great cheese sauce, but they do.
It has to be chemistry because it totally works!
Toasted Panko bread crumbs are sprinkled on top of the dish to serve. I toasted mine in a skillet over medium high heat along with a small touch of butter, which added a brilliant richness.
All in all this made for one very delicious meal, served with some sliced ripe tomatoes. If there is one thing I love more than mac and cheese, it is mac and cheese with some tomatoes.
The two things just go together very well. Very well indeed. Like peas and carrots.
Mac and cheese was never anything my mom ever made when I was growing up. I am not sure why. I suppose she thought cheese was a bit on the expensive side, I don't know.
She mixed macaroni together with ground beef and onion and tomatoes sometimes. I cannot remember her ever adding cheese to that mixture.
In any case, I didn't like it. Probably because I was never overly fond of ground meat mixed with things. Mom was a very thrifty cook and she never bought great quality ground beef.
It always had loads of fat in it and gristle and sometimes even bits of bone. You could guarantee if any of those things were in it, it landed on my plate.
As soon as it touched my teeth or mouth that was it, I couldn't eat it. I had and have a very strong gag reflex and it just ruined it for me.
I can't even hold a piece of paper between my teeth without gagging, so you can imagine how much fun it is for me to go to a Dentist. Not fun at all!
In any case I had hoped I would out grow that problem and I have to a degree, but I still can't stand to eat cheap ground meat, and would prefer my pasta without any meat at all. Call me fussy if you want to, but it is what it is!
In any case, if you are looking for a quick and easy mac and cheese supper for two, you have just struck gold! This one spells winner.
Easy to make and incredibly cheese and delicious, it went down a real treat! I will probably have the leftovers for breakfast tomorrow. Yes, I am that person!
Easy Baked Mac and Cheese (small batch)
Yield: 2
Prep time: 2 MinCook time: 38 MinTotal time: 40 Min
No need to boil water and cook the macaroni for this rich and delicious mac and cheese dish. Everything cooks right in the casserole dish for a quick and easy supper dish for two.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups (170g) elbow macaroni
- 1 1/4 cups (300ml) water
- 6 fluid ounces of cream
- 1/4 tsp dry mustard
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 3/4 cup (90g) grated sharp cheddar cheese (3 ounces)
- 3/4 cup (98g) grated processed cheese (3 ounces)
- 1/4 cup (30g) panko bread crumbs, toasted
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375*F/ 190*C/ gas mark 4. Butter a 5 by 7 inch casserole dish really well, or one equivalent to the size. (3 cup) Spread the macaroni out in the dish in an even layer.
- Whisk together the cream, 1 cup (240ml) of the water and the mustard powder. Season with 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp of pepper. Pour into the baking dish and stir everything gently together to combine. Cover tightly with aluminum foil.
- Bake in the preheated oven for thirty minutes, stirring it every ten minutes or so. By the end of that time all of the liquid should be absorbed. Remove from the oven and stir thoroughly, scraping up from the bottom and sides of the dish.
- Stir in the remaining 1/4 cup (60ml) water and the cheeses. Recover with the foil and return to the oven. Bake for a further 5 to 8 minutes until the macaroni is tender and the cheese has melted.
- Remove from the oven, stir to coat the pasta evenly with the cheese. Let cool for ten minutes. Sprinkle with the toasted panko bread crumbs and serve.
One of my favorite dinner salad options in the summer has to be the Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad. Caesar salad is my favorite salad anyways!
Add some grilled chicken and I am one very happy camper! It makes a salad a meal!
We have had some stinking hot weather these past few days here in the Valley. Combine that with high humidity and nobody feels like cooking much!
Quick, easy and painless is the order of the day. I am not sure about you, but for me, when it gets hot and sticky like this, I don't really have much of an appetite anyways!
If I can have my dinner as a main dish salad, then I am perfectly content, and its more than enough for me to enjoy.
Today I created my favorite Chicken Caesar Salad in a size small enough to feed just two people. It may be smaller in size, but lacks none of the delicious flavors of the original!
Caesar Salad is such an easy salad to make. I can't understand why so many restaurants get it so wrong! I'll be honest here.
Its been a very long time since I have had a decent Caesar Salad in a restaurant. You pay an arm and a leg for it, and when it comes the lettuce is limp, the dressing weak and the whole thing looks like a complete afterthought.
I hate being disappointed when it comes to ordering and paying for good food! I have now gotten to the point where I don't order salads at all in restaurants. I find them to be a complete and total waste of money.
Which is a shame really. I started my culinary career as the pastry chef in a local hotel here in the Valley. I was responsible for the appetizers, salads and desserts. I can promise you, nobody got a weak salad, dessert or appetizer when I was on the job!
Its not that hard really to put together a good salad, with fresh crisp ingredients, and a tasty dressing. Not that hard at all.
I don't know why so many get it wrong! Its sad really.
For this tasty take on the delicious Caesar Salad you begin by rubbing some chicken with a Montreal Chicken Seasoning and grilling it to perfection.
You can do this outside if you have an outdoor grill, or you can do it inside on an indoor grill or a frying pan. (That's what I had to do this time.)
The dressing itself is a very simple and easy one to make. Lemon juice, garlic, yogurt, Anchovy paste, Dijon, Worcestershire and Parmesan cheese . . . simple ingredients.
You can also use a purchased dressing if you wish, but use a well flavored and good quality one. (In the UK, I liked Newman's Own, here in Canada, I like Renee's.)
I use real bacon, normally popping the rashers of streaky bacon onto a baking sheet and baking them in the oven to perfection while I am cooking the chicken.
Its really simple and if you line your baking sheet with baking parchment, there's no flipping and very little clean up involved. (Yes, I am that lazy!)
You could also use a really good quality of ready made bacon bits. Just don't use those nasty soy ones.
Well, I suppose you could if you were a vegetarian, but then why are you eating a Caesar salad anyways! Especially one with chicken, lol.
A ciabatta or a French bread both work very well. Ordinary sliced white bread, not so good.
I use Romaine lettuce, the heart. One good sized head is enough for two people.
It has a nice slightly bitter taste that goes well with everything else and I think it is fairly traditional in a Caesar Salad for just that reason.
You want to use a robust lettuce that is going to stand up to the flavors and textures of the other ingredients. Romaine does just that.
My mom would never eat any kind of lettuce other than iceberg. I don't think I knew any other kind existed when I was growing up. To be fair however, unless you grew it yourself there were not really any other kinds available.
Don't get me wrong. I adore iceberg lettuce. There are certain salads and applications that would not be the same without iceberg lettuce.
Think of the wedge for instance. It has such a lovely crisp quality that goes very well in burgers and the like as well!
But for other salads like this one, you want a more robust and flavorful lettuce. I cannot imagine making one with any other kind but romaine.
Oh, how I miss the baby gem lettuces that I used to get in the UK. They were like a baby romaine, tiny, crisp and dark green, but were also decidedly bitter.
They lent themselves very well to a blue cheese dressing. I used to make a lovely salad with a blue
cheese vinaigrette and spring onions, along with the baby gem lettuce.
Oh my but it was some good. Maybe next year I can grow some in a window box.
This is a quick and easy salad to make once you have all of the components ready. Cut your lettuce crosswise into chunks and scatter it on two places.
Likewise slice your chicken and lay the pieces on top. Scatter with the croutons and bacon pieces, then drizzle with the dressing.
I like to grind some black pepper over top, scatter with a bit of Parmesan and then pass a bit of extra dressing at the table. This is great summer eating, pure and simple. Enjoy!
Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad for Two
Yield: 2
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 20 MinTotal time: 30 Min
This is a fabulous deliciously light lunch or supper, depending on how hungry you are!
Ingredients
You will need:
- 1 head of Romaine (Cos) lettuce, washed, dried and sliced crosswise
- 4 slices of cooked streaky bacon, cut into slices
For the grilled chicken:
- 2 single free range boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- Montreal Chicken seasoning to taste
For the croutons:
- two firm slices of white bread
- softened butter to spread
- Garlic Italian Seasoning to taste
For the Dressing:
- 2 TBS fresh lemon juice
- 1 small clove garlic, peeled and minced
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 1/2 tsp anchovy paste
- 1 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
- 245g low fat Greek Yogurt (1 cup)
- 90g finely grated Parmesan cheese (1/2 cup)
- salt to taste and freshly ground black pepper
You will also need: (optional)
- 2 -3 TBS grated Parmesan Cheese to garnish
- freshly ground black pepper
- wedges of lemon
Instructions
- First make the dressing. Whisk all of the ingredients together and then cover and chill in the refrigerator until you need it. This can be done well ahead. You may not need it all, but it keeps well in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
- To make the croutons, preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Have a baking tray ready Butter the bread on both sides lightly. Cut into decorative shapes with a small cutter (about 1 inch in size). Place onto a baking tray in single layer and sprinkle with the Garlic Italian seasoning to taste. Toast in the oven until golden brown. 8 to 10 minutes. Remove and set aside.
- Season the chicken all over with the Montreal Chicken Seasoning. (I make my own seasoning.) Heat a skillet over moderate heat, add a splash of oil. Put the chicken in top side down. Cook until golden brown on that side, about 7 minutes, flip over and cook for a further 6 to 7 minutes until cooked through and the juices run clear. Remove and let sit for about five minutes before slicing diagonally into 1/2 inch slices.
- Divide the salad greens between two large chilled plates. Place an equal portion of chicken in the center of each. Sprinkle on the bacon and croutons and cheese, again dividing them equally. Drizzle with a tiny bit of dressing and grind some fresh black pepper on top to taste. Pass the remaining dressing at the table, so that each person can use as much or as little as they want. Delicious!
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