Air fryer Buffalo wings, with (mild) blue cheese sauce

During lockdown, I jumped on the airfryer bandwagon, and now I seem to have ended up with a Ninja Foodi and a Ninja Grill Max.  They do honestly make some things so crispy delicious and they are much easier to clean up than pots and pans, and they do cook with a LOT less oil or fat.

One of the things everyone raves about is the old Buffalo wings, so here's my version (with some help from Godpapa) which is in part from this BBC Good Food one, and in part from a lot of reading around various air fryer online communities and working out what we liked best.

Buffalo Wings

1 pack of chicken wings

a few tablespoons of self raising flour, or cornflour with gluten free baking powder added.

2 tablespoons of avocado oil

salt and pepper

50g butter

5 tablespoons hot sauce (I prefer Frank's Buffalo Wings Sauce)

1 tablespoon red or white wine vinegar

1) split wings into drums and flats

2) pat dry

3) lightly oil (avocado oil)

4) toss in seasoned SR flour

5) air fry for 20-35 minutes at 200C, stirring occasionally

6) While the chicken is cooking, melt the butter in a pan, and add the vinegar and hot sauce. Stir to emulsify. When mixed, put in the bottom of a large bowl or serving dish.

7) put hot chicken directly into bowl/dish of sauce, toss gently to coat.

Mild blue cheese sauce

Crumble about an ounce of blue cheese into a small dish.  Add 3 tablespoons of plain set yoghurt, 2 tablespoons of soured cream, 1 teaspoon of celery salt and half a teaspoon of paprika.  Stir well

to mix and blend and evenly spread the cheese through the sauce.  

Serve the chicken with the sauce, some potato wedges and some sticks of celery - and plenty of napkins!

courgette and bacon pasta

Well, we are a nation in a very different place than the last time I blogged.

Covid-19, lockdown, social distancing, queues for entering supermarkets, supply shortages. No pasta, no toilet paper, no flour, no eggs, no ketchup, no tinned tomatoes... Strict limits on purchases of the above if you CAN find them, as well as on hand-wash and hand sanitiser.

I'm lucky that I've always been a bit of a hoarder, and I like to buy in bulk anyway, and also I'm lucky enough to have a fantastically well-stocked local corner shop - so I can get a lot of basics practically on my doorstep when I need them.  Including pasta!

This dish was quick and simple, and veg packed and frugal.  Everyone enjoyed it, including Papa who is usually very mistrustful of courgettes.

I used:

2 courgettes
1 medium onion
125g bacon
one teaspoon of butter
half a teaspoon of salt
half a teaspoon of coarsely ground black pepper
one teaspoon Marigold powder
splash of white wine if you have it, otherwise just splash in some water
50-75g plain cream cheese

400g pasta 
grated cheese to serve


First I chopped up about half a pack of unsmoked back bacon from the corner shop and dry-fried it until golden.  This is the point that Papa filled a large pan with water and put it on to boil for the pasta.  We used 400g of mixed fusilli - half wholewheat and half tricolori, basically because wholewheat is a bit more filling so goes further and the tricolori is interesting and also its what I found in big bags in Sainsbury's a few weeks ago.

Next I topped and tailed and halved and quartered 2 courgettes lengthways and then sliced the quarters up thinly.  They weren't at their best, but this didn't really matter.  I then halved the onion and sliced one half very thinly and chopped the other half finely.

Once the bacon was nicely golden, I removed it from the pan with a slotted spoon, and tipped in the courgettes.  I left it to brown slightly and soften, and then added the onion and the butter and sprinkled in the salt.  I turned the heat down slightly and left it to soften.

Meanwhile, at some point the water came to the boil, and so Papa put the pasta on to cook around when I was taking the bacon out.  Papa asked me if the sauce would take as long as the pasta, and I wasn't sure, but both were done around the same time in the end!

Once the veggies were nice and soft, I added the Marigold powder and the splash of wine.  Honestly, water would be fine, or cider, or dry sherry if you happen to have it!

Once the pasta was cooked, I put the bacon back into the pan with the courgettes and also a ladleful of the pasta water.  Finally, I stirred the cream cheese into the courgettes and bacon.

Tiny had at least 2 helpings, not-so Littl'Un loved it, not-really BigUn enjoyed it too and added it to her plan of things to cook at Uni....

another courgette disguising trick - cheesy green sludge

Friday afternoon and I couldn't think what to make.  The veg drawer contained mainly carrots, courgettes and mushrooms.  Deciding not to take too many risks, I avoided the mushrooms and decided to see if I could do something new with the courgettes.

First I wanted something different with the carbs also, and we've had a lot of pasta and rice, and we don't often have a lot of bread in the house, so I got out the bag of red potatoes and using my Bamix SliceSy I made thin slices of potato.  I steamed them in the microwave for 5 mins and then tipped them into a baking dish.  I got not-so Littl'Un to spread them out, season with salt and pepper, cover with milk and cream and dot with butter.  We then put them in a preheated oven and let them cook while we got on with the courgette transformation.

Now I chopped up half a pack of streaky bacon and got that frying in a pan.  I finely chopped a couple of shallots (because I had them from earlier than the onions - one onion would have been fine also!) and added those to the bacon once it had started browning.

Swapping cutters, I got Big'Un to grate the courgettes in the SliceSy and once the bacon and shallots were cooked the way I like (brown and almost crispy bacon, soft and translucent shallot) we tipped in the grated courgettes, seasoned it all with black pepper, and stirred well.  I lowered the flame and allowed it to simmer with the lid on until it eventually turned to almost mush.  At this point, I added the thicker cream which was still stuck to the pot after adding the liquid double cream to the potatoes, and a good dollop of butter.  Finally, just before serving, I chucked in a good handful of grated cheese and waited for it to melt completely, after stirring it through.

The whole meal was a masterpiece!! Everyone wanted more, and even Tiny didn't patronise me when I called it "cheesy bacon vegetables" - he didn't seem to clock that it was courgettes this time!!!

Netflix and stir - how to actually make risotto.

On the previous weekend, I had had an interesting afternoon trying to get some shopping, which culminated in my putting a (purchased, uncooked) joint of gammon into a child's backpack and then walking cross country for half an hour with the child and his backpack to get home in time to cook the gammon.  This was because of the terrible gridlocked traffic that could have kept us stuck in the car park of the supermarket for well over an hour (luckily soon after the footsoldiers returned home and began cooking, the abandoned driver was directed out to an entrance and managed to get home after 45 mins sat not moving at all.)

Anyway, this epicly well-travelled gammon deserved a good expression of its worth, so after the pressure cooked gammon meal, I saved the cooking liquor and the left over meat for greater things.

My initial thought had been to make a pea and ham soup, but Papa mentioned risotto, and Big'Un lit up at this idea, so risotto became the new plan.

I first put the stock/liquor into a saucepan and slowly brought it to the boil. I used a very well known online Instant Pot gammon cooking recipe, and I had used the usual suspects of flavouring vegetables, as well as Marigold and some fairly ordinary cider in with the water.  I had just over a litre, about 2 pints.

While the stock came to the boil, I chopped up the left over gammon, as well as a chunk of ham I had bought from the deli when they sell off the ends of the hams very cheaply as they can't slice them so easily.  I've always had a fondness for "chunky" ham like this!

I got out a large saute pan, and fried this gammon/ham mix of little cubes in some olive oil until it was starting to brown and then I added 2 finely chopped small onions and a tablespoon or so of finely chopped garlic.  I then added 12oz of risotto rice (I always seem to have 2 part used packets in the cupboard at any given time) and stirred well to coat all the rice in the oil.  I then added about a cupful of frozen peas and stirred to mix these too.

Now I grabbed my nearest smartdevice, and started up Netflix.  This is a very important step.  I propped the device up where I could see it while stirring the pan, and started up something easy to watch.  

Only now did I grab a ladle and pour in a ladle of the simmering stock.  And stir.

And once that was absorbed, I added another ladleful of hot stock.

And once that was absorbed, I added another ladleful of hot stock.

And so on. You get the picture.  At one point I paused the ladling and stirring (but not the Netflix) to use a slotted spoon to remove the stewed veggies and mash them up and put them in a tupperware, but the rest of THAT story is to be found in another post. About Chilli Con Carne. You'll have to be patient.  Like with the risotto stirring.

I have to be honest and say that after 17 or 18 minutes with very little stock left, I honestly thought I was doing something wrong as the rice was still too hard and there was not enough liquid left to cook it all, surely?  But I had faith, and I kept going. (What else could I do, too late for takeaway!) And magically after about 23 mins in total, when all the hot stock was in the risotto, and had been sucked all away by the fat glistening little rice grains, there was a creamy richness to the whole dish, and the pink ham and jewelly green peas made such a colourful dish, I was delighted!

A sprinkling of cheese was added at the table to give that special stringy, sticky comfort, freshly ground black pepper for those who like such things, and I have to say, this was a meal EVERYONE enjoyed immensely! And I was happy because I had had a chance to catch up with Netflix for once!

Baked Cheesy Gnocchi with spinach and tomato sauce.

Baked One Pan Gnocchi

On a chilly Friday, I wanted something stodgy and comforting to feed us, and the special offer, impulse-buy pack of gnocchi seemed the right thing.  I had stopped buying them for a while as the kids just didn't seem to enjoy them, but I don't like to give up, and I like a bit of a change sometimes from the pasta/rice/potatoes trinity of carb options. We do occasionally have a bread supper, but that's also rare.

So I began by frying the gnocchi slowly in some olive oil to get them slightly crunchy on the outside, which makes them a nicer texture after baking, I feel.  To make this a true one pot, I used a pan which can go in the oven also, but if you don't have one, you can always pour the contents into a baking dish before the final step.

Once they were starting to be golden all over (and this DOES take time) I added some frozen chopped garlic and allowed it to soften and lose its harsh bite.  I then added a box of Heinz Fritto which is basically a flavoured passata, and also swished out the box with some hot water and added that too.  I then put in a handful of balls of frozen chopped spinach and stirred them in and then brought the whole pan to a gentle bubble.  

Finally, I covered the top with a layer of grated mozzarella and put the pan in a preheated medium oven for about 20 minutes.

I was rewarded with a deliciously crunchy top cheesy layer, with good oozy strings of cheese when served, and a very filling and nutritious meal all round.  The kids did enjoy it, although it wasn't one they immediately said they'd request again, but clean plates and small victories, definitely!

No-macaroni cheese (or chip shop dauphinoise!)

So after a meeting in school yesterday, I stopped at the chippy on the corner and on Godpapa's (hungry) advice, bought 2 portions of chips to go along with the fried eggs and gammon slices (sliced off a slow cooked half price gammon joint from earlier in the week) and peas I had planned as a quick and easy meal.

                                    

Of course Godpapa wasn't staying for dinner and we didn't actually even open the second portion of chips.  Big'Un has been unwell all week, (and is finally on her first ever course of antibiotics) and Littl'Un never really eats much anyway, and Tiny hasn't been his usual happy-munching self for a couple of days either.  I blame the weather.

So I found myself with a full large portion of chips today and decided that instead of refrying them or binning them, (or stealthily eating them straight from the fridge) perhaps I would use them to switch up today's intended meal and take it from the standard nursery fare, right from out of left field to a proper Credit Crunch frugal "use up leftovers" meal.

The menu plan was macaroni cheese, and I had intended to fry up some leeks with a portion of sweetcorn in butter as a side dish. I hadn't decided whether to add some little bits of the gammon, but I did get in a larger than usual milk for playgroup to allow for making the cheese sauce.  As my longtime or regular readers might recall, one weird foible I have is a dislike of making pasta.  Yes, I know it is easy and filling and cheap, but I find it boring to boil the water and a pain to drain it afterwards.  So, instead, I spread the cold leftover chip shop chips in the casserole dish, then I spread the finely sliced leeks on top and mixed them through, and I strew some gammon cubes over, and then I poured on a luscious cheese sauce, made the normal way but with a dash of malt vinegar added, and having been witnessed by Littl'Un for the first time ever (yes she loved the magic as the roux turned), then I topped it all off with a bit of extra cheese and then baked it in the oven for as long as we could stand it, and until the top was all golden and crispy.

I'm not going to write a recipe, because I'm not that patronising, and I don't measure my white sauce when I make it, but I will add some pics because it really was delicious and very easy, very satisfying and extremely tasty and comforting!