Tag: 2025

Categories
Mains Recipes

Air Fryer Veg Burritos

The air fryer is the 21st century device that, seemingly, no kitchen should be without. They’ve become extremely popular in a relatively short space of time, and now come in all shapes and sizes, at a generally affordable cost.

The fact it is instantly ready to cook, with no warming up time as with a conventional oven, makes it perfect for prepping quick and easy meals. They are energy-efficient, keeping cooking costs down, are great for small portions, and can deliver health benefits through using little or no oil or fat.

My experience, rightly or wrongly, has been that the most common use of an air fryer is to heat up something ready prepared from the supermarket chilled cabinet. Nothing wrong with that, but I wondered if I could use it to make something quick, tasty and healthy, totally from fresh source ingredients.

So let me introduce you to my Air Fryer Veg Burritos.

Servings

This makes 2 burritos.

Timings

12 minutes to air fry the filling ingredients, and another 12 mins to air fry the burritos, all at 180C.

You Will Need:

  • olive oil
  • 2 tsp smoked paprika
  • a few twists of sea salt
  • 1 sweet potato
  • 1 red pepper
  • 1 red onion
  • a bunch of fresh coriander/cilantro
  • 9 – 10 black olives
  • around 100g feta cheese
  • half a 400g tin of kidney beans
  • half a 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
  • 2 flour tortillas

Method

  1. Chop the sweet potato, red onion and red pepper into chunks, and place in a small plastic food bag. Add a drizzle of olive oil, the smoked paprika and sea salt. Massage the food around in the bag so that all the veg is evenly coated. Tip from the bag, and into the drum of the air fryer at 180C for 12 mins.
  2. While the veg is air frying, chop the feta into chunks, and the black olives in half. Mash the kidney beans and tomatoes together to a thick-ish consistency.
  3. Tip the air fried veg on to a plate to cool slightly.
  4. Lay out the 2 flour tortillas on a board and place the filling in a line down the middle (see photo above). Start with the kidney bean/tomato mash, then add chunks of sweet potato, red pepper, onion, feta and olive. Use scissors to snip in some coriander leaves. Be generous, but don’t overfill, otherwise the burrito may unfurl while cooking.
  5. Wrap up each tortilla, making sure to tuck in the ends to form a parcel, and brush all over with oil. Brushing the ends helps seal them and avoid the filling escaping.
  6. Place in the drum of the air fryer (see my photo below) and cook for 10 – 12 mins at 180C. The tortilla will take on a brown and crispy shell, as shown in my main photo at the top of the post.
  7. Remove, slice each into 2, and serve. I served this with a pot of soured cream and a bowl of Chunky Guacamole.

Customise It!

There is major scope for varying the filling to use up whatever leftovers you may have in the fridge. Pots of chilli, pasta sauce or a lining of a good quality chilli jam can take the place of the kidney beans/tomatoes mash-up.

Mushrooms would be amazing – just air fry them whole at stage 1 above, and then cut into chunks to go in the filling. Skip the feta and add a line of grated cheddar, or maybe some mozzarella. Swap in Cajun seasoning for the smoked paprika. Have fun and use your imagination!

The dance classics theme for the ADK Playlist continues into 2025. Next to step up to the dancefloor are Deee-Lite with Groove is in the Heart.

Categories
Desserts Recipes

Golden Crème Brûlée

I love making Crème Brûlée – it gives me an excuse to fire up my chef’s mini blowtorch, which is always good fun! That’s it in action in my photo above.

It helps that it is also a magnificent dessert – silky vanilla custard nestled beneath a solid layer of brittle caramel shell, that splinters into shards when cracked with the side of a spoon. The soft underside, together with the crunchy topping, is simply sensational.

No blowtorch? No problem – just place the desserts under a hot grill to caramelise, keeping an eye on them so they don’t burn! You will need 4 individual ramekin dishes and a high-sided roasting dish to act as a bain-marie. Got that? OK, here we go…

Servings

This will make 4 individual desserts.

Timings

20 mins to prepare. 35 mins to bake. 5 – 10 mins for that all-important blowtorching before serving.

You Will Need:

  • some butter for greasing
  • 400 ml double cream
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 80g caster sugar (plus 4 tsp extra for the caramel topping)
  • the yolks of 4 large eggs

Method

  1. Preheat a fan oven to 140C.
  2. Prepare your bain-marie. That may sound posh, but really it is just a large roasting dish with deep sides, into which you will place 4 individual ramekin dishes. Grease the insides of each ramekin dish with butter.
  3. Tip the double cream into a saucepan and add the vanilla. Gradually bring it to a boil, stirring gently, then turn it down to a simmer for about 5 mins.
  4. Set out 2 bowls and crack the eggs carefully, catching the whites in one bowl and the yolks in the other. Set the whites aside to be used another time – we are working with just the yolks for making Crème Brûlée.
  5. Sprinkle the sugar into the bowl with the yolks, and whisk together till gold and creamy.
  6. Bring the double cream back to the boil stirring once again. When it just reaches the boil, pour it over the egg and sugar mixture, and whisk again to combine.
  7. Place a sieve over a jug, and pour the mixture through. This will take out any lumps that may have formed while heating the cream.
  8. Fill a kettle with water and boil.
  9. Take the jug of strained mixture and pour it equally between the 4 ramekins. Then pour boiling water into the bain-marie (roasting dish), so that it comes about halfway up the outside of the ramekin dishes.
  10. Cover the bain-marie with tin foil and place in the oven.
  11. Check after about 30 – 35 mins. The desserts are cooked when the custard has set. Note that the surfaces will not yet be golden caramel – that stage is yet to come!
  12. Using oven gloves, lift the ramekins from the bain-marie and set aside on a tray to cool. Carefully tip the hot water away.
  13. Once the ramekins have reached room temperature, place in the fridge to chill until you are ready to serve.
  14. Now the fun begins. Scatter a teaspoon full of caster sugar over the top of each ramekin. Fire up that blowtorch and heat so that they are caramelised and golden. Alternatively, place under a hot grill.
  15. Place each back in the fridge for a few minutes. The caramelised topping will set to a crisp.

Customise It!

I made a coffee version of this at New Year, dissolving 4 teaspoons of instant coffee granules in the double cream as it warms. It’s a really good variation, giving a good coffee taste and colour (see below). You can check out the reel of it (Café Crème Brûlée) on my Instagram site if you wish @differentkitch.

We’re sticking with the dance theme for the ADK Playlist this January. It’s a brand new year and, hey, I just know that something good is going to happen. Cue Utah Saints with the Kate Bush-inspired Something Good.

Categories
Bakes Recipes

Spiced Cranberry Muffins

This year’s home baked Christmas Cake has gone down well in the ADK household – so much so that we are now down to the final few crumbs on the serving plate. How to fill the gap, I wondered, and maybe also use up some of the tasty ingredients left over from making it?

We still had some currants, golden sultanas, glace cherries and mixed candied peel in the cupboard. There was also the last of the juicy red cranberries, left over from making the sauce I’d been merrily ladling on to my roast turkey.

Too good to waste, of course, so they’ve all ended up in these New Year muffins. I’ve incorporated cinnamon and nutmeg to add to that seasonal feel of deep midwinter, so cosy up and enjoy.

Servings

Makes 12 muffins.

Timings

15 mins to make, 20 mins to bake in a fan oven at 160C.

You Will Need

  • 280g plain flour
  • 3 tsp baking powder
  • half tsp salt
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp grated nutmeg
  • 120g caster sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 110g fresh cranberries, coarsely chopped in a food processor
  • 20g currants
  • 20g sultanas
  • 20g glace cherries
  • 20g chopped mixed candied peel
  • 240ml milk
  • 90ml veg oil

Method

  1. Prepare a muffin tin or mould. Switch on a fan oven to 160C.
  2. Sieve the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Stir in the cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar.
  3. In a separate bowl, combine the egg, chopped cranberries, milk and oil. Stir in the currants, sultanas, glace cherries and candied peel.
  4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, and stir so that no dry ingredients are visible.
  5. Spoon the mixture into the tin/mould, and bake for 20 mins.
  6. Remove to a wire rack to cool.

Customise It!

Basically, the rule here is that if it might have gone in your Christmas Cake, and is sitting left over in the cupboard, then it’s good enough for the muffins! Swap in raisins for some of the currants or sultanas, for example. Chop up some nuts and add them in. I didn’t go so far as to feed in a teaspoon of brandy but, hey, why not try it? If mixed spice is all you have, then use it in place of the cinnamon and nutmeg.

First musical selection of 2025 is from Sophie Ellis-Bextor. I enjoyed her New Year’s Eve Disco shown on TV here. She performed Groovejet and Murder on the Dancefloor, both of which I have always rated, and also this one, which I don’t think I’d heard before. It is a paean to the classic Sheila B. Devotion track, Spacer, so can’t really go wrong. Here’s Sophie with Crying at the Discotheque.