Week 49 - Air fried Chicken Wings

The Recipe
6 chicken wings
1.5 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp onion powder
1/8 tsp of paprika
.... or whatever other spices catch your fancy!

In a bag, mix together baking powder and all spices. Dab the chicken wings dry with a paper towel, add them to the bag and shake it thoroughly to coat all the wings. If you don't have an oil spray (I don't), add a bit of oil to the bag and repeat. If you do have an oil spray, just spray the wings after they're in the fryer instead.

I decided to add the metal rack to the fryer basket, but I don't know if it's necessary.

Cool at 200C for 10 minutes. Turn over all pieces and cook for another 10 minutes or until cooked through.

Serve with sweet chili sauce, potatoes and a nice salad. ... or by themselves as a snack.

The Verdict
Magic! The baking powder made the skin bubble and it turned out SO crisp and lovely. Seriously, this was restaurant grade chicken wings. Tasted amazing too! Definitely a winner.

Week 47: Boeuf Bourguignon

The Recipe
175g bacon, chopped
900g lean braising steak, e.g. rump steak, cut into 2.5cm cubes (in Danish: tyksteg el. cuvette/culotte)
2 tbsp flour
3 tbsp oil
12 shallots, peeled but left whole
2-4 garlic cloves, chopped
175g mushrooms, quartered
450ml red wine
150m beef stock
1 bay leaf
2 sprigs each of fresh thyme, parsley and marojam, tied together
Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 160C.

Mix flour, salt and pepper in a bag. Add the beef and toss until coated.

Over medium-high heat, cook the bacon in a large, ovenproof casserole, until golden brown. Remove bacon from pot and put aside. Add the butter to the pot and brown the beef in batches. Set aside with the bacon.

Add the oil to the fat remaining in the pot. Cook the shallots and garlic until fragrant and just starting to turn brown. Add the mushrooms and cook for another 5 minutes. Add the wine and give it a good stir, to loosen up all the brown bits in the bottom of the pot. Return the beef and bacon to the pot and stir in the beef stock. Add the herbs and bring to a boil.

Cover and cook in the oven for ~1.5hrs. Season to taste and serve with mashed potatoes and some green beans.

The Verdict
SO good! No doubt a good part of that was due to the high quality of the meat and wine (we didn't just get the cheapest), but this recipe was so ridiculously easy that nobody could mess it up :-D Getting everything prepared took a tad longer than expected, but I'd still consider it a really good dish to make for company, because of it's long cooking time, where it really can just be left alone. Might be worth while to try to adapt it for the crock pot as well.

Week 46: Salmon w. Mango

The Recipe
400g salmon filet
1 piece of baking paper
1 mango fruit
Herbs of your choice
2tbsp orange juice
50g feta cheese or cream cheese

Peel the mango and cut it into wedges.

Place the salmon on the baking paper. Distribute the mango on top. Add herbs and drizzle with the orange juice. Add crumbled feta cheese or 'blobs' of cream cheese on top. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Close the paper around the fish and place the package in an ovenproof dish. Bake at 200C for about 25 minutes.

Serve with potatoes.

The Verdict
Really good!! I had it with cream cheese, but think it would taste just as nice - but very different - with the feta, so am keen on trying that too. Really yummy and creamy, and the flavours worked very well together.

Week 45: Asian Glazed Chicken

The Recipe
1lb chicken breasts
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp balasmic vinegar
1/2 tbsp honey
1-2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp hot sauce
1/2 tsp ginger
The green bits of 2 spring onions

Mix together everything but the chicken and spring onions. Add the chicken and leave to marinade for at least 2 hours or overnight.

Remove the chicken from the marinade (reserving the marinade) and transfer to the air fryer basket. Cook for 7-8 minutes on each side or until cooked through (mine took a bit longer, next time I think I'll cut them into halves).

Meanwhile transfer the marinade to a small pot and cook over medium-low heat until it reduces slightly. Add the spring onions last minute.

Serve over rice.

The Verdict
The chicken wasn't quite cooked through at first, and then I cooked them for too long the second time around, so they ended up rather dry, unfortunately. I think I'll cut the breasts in halves next time, so the original cooking time will fit better. Also, there really wasn't much marinade left to turn into a drizzle, so I may double all those measurements for next time.

All in all, I think I'd say it was good, but not great. Made the kitchen smell amazing though, so definitely might make it again.

Week 44: Vegetarian Sloppy Joes

The recipe
1 15oz can chickpeas, drained
1/4 cup uncooked red lentils
1/2 onion, diced
1-2 cloves garlic, diced
1/2 15oz can tomato sauce
1/4 cup water
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp dark brown sugar
1.5 tbsp Worcestershire sauce or soy sauce (depending on whether or not it needs to be vegetarian)
1/4 tsp dry mustard or 1/4 tbsp dijon mustard
A dash of red crushed pepper flakes
1/2 tsp salt
Pepper to taste

Add all ingredients to the slow cooker. Cook on low for 8 hours or on high 5-6 hours, until the lentils are cooked through and the mixture thickens. Open the slow cooker and, using a potato masher, mash about 1/3 of the filling. Give it a good stir and let it cook for another 30 minutes or so.

Serve over toasted burger buns.

The Verdict
I don't think I cooked it for quite long enough as both the lentils and chickpeas were still rather hard - not quite crunchy, but they would have been better had they been cooked for a bit longer, I think. But I did like it, and it's easy enough to make, so will probably try it again.

Week 39: Mustard-Glazed Neck Fillet

The Recipe
1kg neck fillet
1tbsp mustard
1tbsp honey
Salt, Pepper
Spices of your choice (I used thyme and bbq)
1dl chicken stock
corn flour
tomato paste

Cut the top of the neck fillet criss-cross. Add salt and pepper. Mix together mustard and honey and coat the meat with it. Add additional spices of your choice. Pour 3-4dl water to the bottom of the airfryer, put the basket on top and add the neck fillet.

Cook in the airfryer at 180C for about 70 minutes (or until a meat themometer reaches 65C.

Remove from the airfryer, and set aside to rest for ten minutes before slicing it.

Meanwhile make the sauce by pouring the meat drippings into a pot. Add chicken stock (or any other stock, I guess) and possibly a bit more water. Add tomato paste and some corn flour mixed with cold water. Bring to a boil and let it thicken a bit. Season to taste.

Serve with potatoes and a nice salad.

The Verdict
Really good! We hardly had any drippings left (I guess the rest had boiled off?), so added a bit more chicken stock than mentioned above, but it worked out really well, and tasted SO yummy!

Week 38: Crispy Tortilla Packages (Airfryer)

The Recipe
4 tortillas
~400g meat of your choice cut into bite sized pieces (I used veal)
4 tbsp sour cream
4 tbsp salsa
~4 tbsp shredded cheese
Lettuce
1 red onion, sliced
A handful of nachos chips
Tortilla toppings of your choice (avocado, more salsa/sour cream, more cheese, jalapenos, more lettuce, tomatoes etc.)
Oil

Season the meat with salt, pepper and spices of your choice, spray with oil and place in the airfryer basket. Cook at 180C for ~10 minutes, shaking the basket halfway.

Prepare each tortillas like this: put shredded cheese sour cream, salsa, shredded cheese, meat, onion, lettuce and a couple of tortilla chips in the center of each. Fold the tortilla to a pentagon, by folding up one 'side' at a time, overlapping the previous side. Spray with oil and place in the basket (I let mine overlap a bit, that way there were room for all 4 at once). Cook for 6 minutes, turn them over and cook for another 3-4 minutes.

Serve with additional toppings as desired.

The Verdict
Pretty straight forward tortillas meal. Nothing out of the ordinary, and could easily have been made using the stove instead, but one advantage of the air fryer that I hadn't thought of ahead of time is that it's possible to cook without standing over a hot stove! That's going to come in SO handy next summer. And it tasted really good! I might add a few more tortillas chips next time, but that's the only modification I have in mind.

Week 37: Garlic Bread (Airfryer)

The Recipe
1/2 chiabatta, cut into 7-8 slices (each about 2cm thick)
50g soft butter
4 cloves of garlic, minced
~1dl parmesan cheese
Various dried herbs - thyme, basil, oregano.

Mix together butter and garlic until smooth. Add parmesan cheese and herbs and mix until fully incorporated. Butter the bread on both sides and place in the air fryer basket. Cook at 180C for 5 minutes, turn over the bread and then cook for another 4 minutes. Serve immediately.

The Verdict
I took one bite, grabbed the entire plate and went "MINE!" (alas, DH didn't agree....). Possibly the best garlic bread I've ever had. And so easy to make!

Air Fryer

Asian Glazed Chicken
Carrot Fries
Chicken Kebab
Chinese Duck
Crispy Tortilla Packages
Garlic Bread
Mustard-Glazed Neck Fillet
Roast Beef
Sweet and Spicy Sausage Dish

Week 36: Chicken Kebabs (Air Fryer)

The Recipe
450g chicken breast
1 tbsp oil
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp chili flakes (optional)
1 tbsp honey
3 bell peppers
1 red onion 1 small squash

Cut chicken, bell peppers, squash and onion into 2-3 cm pieces. Place the chicken in a plastic bag together with the oil, soy sauce, garlic powder, ginger, chili and honey. Leave to marinate for at least fifteen minutes (I left mine overnight).

Assemble the skewers by mixing up chicken, squash, bell pepper and onion - I had enough for 7 skewers with the above amounts. Brush the veggies with the remaining marinade.

Place the skewer holder inside the air fryer basket, lay the skewers on top and cook at 180C for 10-12 minutes, turning the skewers over after 5-6 minutes. I had to do this in batches, as my skewer holder could only hold 4 at a time.

Serve with potatoes and a nice salad.


The Verdict
SO GOOD!!! I had expected leftovers, but nope! We ate it all :-D The marinade had gotten a tad spicy for DH, so I'll use less chili next time for his sake, but with a bit of creme fraiche on the side it worked fine, and I absolutely loved it. This is definitely a recipe I'm going to use again. It would work really well with different kinds of meat and different marinades as well.

Edit Made this again a few days ago with beef instead of chicken, a honey, soy, garlic marinade and mushrooms instead of squash. Once again really, really good, and we ate every last bit.

Week 35 - Chicken Ramen

The Recipe
(Serves 1)
1 chicken piece (I used "chicken steak" which was skin-on, boneless chicken - that worked really well)
Salt and pepper, to season
1tbsp olive oil
~1 tsp ginger
1 garlic clove, minced
1.75 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tbsp white wine
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp sesame oil
2 oz mushrooms, sliced
More salt, to taste
1 large egg
2 spring oniones, sliced
1 pack ramen noodles
2 cups chicken stock.
Fresh jalapeno slices, for serving (optional)

Season the chicken with salt and pepper on both sides. In a medium pan, heat olive oil until hot. Add the chicken, skin side down; loosely cover with foil. Place a medium, heavy pot on the foil to press the chicken down; fill the pot with water. Cook, occasionally pressing the pot down, 10 to 12 minutes, or until the chicken skin is crispy and browned. Remove the pot. Flip the chicken and cook 3 to 5 minutes, or until cooked through. Transfer to a serving dish, leaving any browned bits (or fond) in the pan. Add the garlic, spring onion and half the ginger. Cook until fragrant. Add mushrooms, season with salt and pepper. Cook 2-3 minutes or until the mushrooms are soft. Remove from heat and set aside.

Meanwhile, heat the chicken stock to boiling. Reduce heat to low and whisk in the soy sauce, white wine, sugar, sesame oil and half the ginger. Remove from heat and set aside.

Make the soft-boiled eggs - reserving the water afterwards. When the eggs finish cooking, add the ramen noodles to the boiling water. Cool for 2-3 minutes then drain and move the noodles to a large bowl. Slice chicken and put on top. Add ramen broth and top with the cooked onion/mushrooms. Serve with jalapeno and the soft boiled egg.


The Verdict
This was a LOT of work, but worth it. At one point I had 3 pots and a pan going all at once!! Could probably have optimized a bit, but ah well. I was a huge fan of this way of cooking the chicken. The skin got SO crisp and yummy! Definitely something I could see myself making again, if I want to pamper myself.

However, it does NOT do well as leftovers. I made twice the amount listed above, to have the rest for lunch the next day, and even though I waited to assemble the ramen bowls until just before serving, few of the things reheated well. So make only what you expect to eat.

Week 33 - Garlicky Parmesan Chicken

The Recipe
(Serves 3)
800g chicken (dark meat is best, but white will do too)
Salt, pepper
800g small potatoes, washed and halved if necessary (the should all be approx. the same size)
2 tbsp butter
5 cloves garlic, chopped
Fresh thyme
2-3 tbsp grated Parmesan, plus more for serving
Olive oil

Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in a pan and sear the chicken ~3 minutes per side.

Meanwhile, in a crockpot, toss potatoes with more olive oil, butter, garlic, thyme, parmesan and more salt and pepper. Add the chicken and cook on low for 6-8 hours until the chicken is fully cooked.

Serve with a nice salad (I made a carrot/apple salad) and more parmesan.

The Verdict
Really good! I cooked mine for 7 hours, and the dark meat at least turned out very well. I didn't try the light, but think I might wait and add that a bit later, if I were to make this again - and I probably will, I REALLY liked it!

There were too few potatoes though. Will have to try with this amount next time (the original recipe only called for 500g). Otherwise I don't have any suggestions for improvements.

Week 27 - Creamy Tuscan Chicken

The Recipe
1lb chicken breast filets
Oregano, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper
~20 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 small onion, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
2.5dl cream (1 cup)
Bit of white wine (or chicken stock)
~150g mushrooms, sliced
handful of rucola/rocket or spinach (about half a bag)
Handful of sundried tomatoes, chopped (use scissors! it's easier)
Chili flakes (optional)
Parmesan cheese
Lemon juice

Butterfly the chicken and season with salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, oregano.
Heat a deep pan with a bit of the sundried tomato oil and some olive oil, and sear both sides of the chicken. Cook until almost done, then remove from the pan.

Add onion, garlic and mushrooms and cook for a few minutes. Add the white wine (or chicken stock) to deglaze the pan. Add tomatoes and sun-dried tomatoes, some more oregano and a bit of chili flakes if you like the heat. Let it cook for a few more minutes and get up all the bits and pieces stuck to the bottom of the pan, then add the cream and a splash of water and leave it to simmer until the sauce has thickened up a bit. Toss in the greens, add parmesan cheese and put the chicken back into the sauce.

Let it simmer for another 5-10 minutes, and pour a bit of lemon juice on top immediately before serving.

Serve with pasta.

The Verdict
Good, but I think I should have cut up the chicken before returning it to the pan, and then just adding the pasta directly, rather than serving them separately. I think that would have worked better. It tasted fantastic, but is INCREDIBLY similar to a recipe that's already part of my regular rotation, so I'll probably just adapt that one, rather than keeping these as two different recipes.

Week 1: Crock Pot Beef Stew

The Recipe
300-400g beef suitable for long cooking times
150g bacon
salt, pepper, paprika, other spices
Flour
1 onion
2-3 garlic cloves
2-3 carrots
~300g potatoes
3 celery stalks
1/2 l beef broth
1dl red wine OR additional beef broth + 2tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp Wostershire sauce
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp mustard
2 bay leaves
A stalk of fresh rosemary
A couple of stalks of fresh thyme
1 tbsp corn flour
2 tbsp cold water
1 tbsp cold butter

Chop onion and garlic. Cut carrots, potatoes and celery into bite sized pieces.

Add carrots, potatoes and celery to the crockpot.

Cut the meat into bite sized pieces and toss them with salt, pepper, paprika and any other spices that catch your fancy. Toss it again with enough flour to give it a thorough coating. Cut the bacon into pieces and cook in a pan over high heat until getting crips. Add to the crockpot. Heat some butter in the pan (if necessary) and quickly sear the beef on all sides (about a minut per side). Transfer the beef to the crockpot and reduce the heat to medium.

Cook the onion and garlic until soft and fragrant. Add the wine and stir up all the bits and pieces that might have gotten stuck to the pan. Transfer to the crockpot, and add the broth, wostershire sauce, tomato paste, mustard, bay leaves, rosemary and thyme.

Cook on LOW for ~7 hours, MED for 5-6 hours or on HIGH for 3-4 hours.

Mix together corn flour and water and add to the sauce. Finally add the cold butter and stir until it has melted.

Serve with garlic bread.

The Verdict
Seriously, this smelled AMAZING while cooking! DH came home and his first comment was, "Uhm! What's for dinner?" which is always nice :-D The taste almost lived up to the smell, but it was lacking... something. And neither DH nor I could quite figure out why. Might have been because I used dried herbs instead of fresh. Might also benefit from a bit of thyme and/or oregano... and perhaps a dollop of mustard. I also kinda want to try it with pork jowl (=svinekæbe) instead. Anyway, DH was very keen on me playing around with it some more - as he said, "It was good, but has the potential to be AMAZING", which is definitely enthusiasm enough for me to want to try to make this again. I'll keep this page updated with my attempts.

Edit: Tried this again a few weeks later with many of the changes I mentioned above. I.e. used fresh herbs insteady of dried, added some mustard, used bacon instead of cocktail sausages and added some paprika. Still not perfect, but a LOT better! Very yummy!