How I Do Cooking

Author: G

  • Air Fryer Chicken Tenders

    If you’re just looking for the times and temperature, it’s twelve minutes at 375°F /190°C. Gerne!

    SERVES: 4
    PREP TIME: 5 MINUTES
    COOK TIME: 12 MINUTES

    Ingredients

    8 chicken tenders
    2 large eggs
    1 cup seasoned panko breadcrumbs
    Olive oil spray

    Method

    Preheat your air fryer to 375°F /190°C.

    Rinse the tenders in cold water and pat dry.

    Beat the eggs in a bowl until they’re ready to confess, then continue to beat until they’ve convinced you they’re telling the truth.

    Place the eggs in a shallow bowl, spread the breadcrumbs on a plate.

    Roll each tender in the egg, then the breadcrumbs, and set aside without stacking. I used 4C Panko Seasoned Bread Crumbs for this go-around.

    Spray the chicken on both sides with a little bit of olive oil.

    Cook for 12 minutes, turning once. You don’t want to overcrowd your fryer, so cook in batches.

    Notes

    If you have time, brine the chicken first.

    There’s enough salt in the panko mix, so you don’t really need to season the chicken.

    The oil is optional, so don’t sweat it. I helps the chicken to crisp and brown evenly. Without it, they’ll look odd but will still be edible.

    Temperature-wise, I’ve tried this a couple of ways. At 350°F, the chicken was slightly undercooked; at 400°F, it was drier than I like. Your mileage may vary, but to me, 375°F was proper Goldilocks.

  • Silli Pasta

    My nieces never visit. They live in Co. Clare, and I live in New York. I’ve invited them many times. They’re six and four years old, and tell me that there isn’t as much money in flipping houses as there used to be: Times are tough, and the price of a flight is hard come by.

    That’s what they say.

    This is for them.

    SERVES: 4 ADULTS OR MANY, MANY YOUTHS
    PREP TIME: 5 MINUTES
    COOK TIME: 45 MINUTES

    Ingredients

    12oz/350g fusilli pasta – or any short pasta
    1/2 cup all-purpose flour
    4 tbsps butter
    2 cups of whole milk
    8oz shredded cheddar cheese – the supermarket stuff
    Salt & pepper

    Method

    Preheat your oven to 350°F/180°C.

    Cook the pasta but stop about a minute shy of the box instructions, then drain, and set aside.

    Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed skillet over medium heat. Once the butter is fully melted, sprinkle in flour and whisk, scraping the bottom to prevent burning. Allow it to cook until the butter is fragrant, and it doesn’t smell like flour.

    Slowly add the milk, whisking until there are no lumps left. Simmer for a minute or two. Dip a cold spoon in the mixture; if the mixture coats the back of the spoon, it might be ready. Run your finger across the back of the spoon; if it clears a path, it’s ready.  If the mixture flows back to fill the space, it needs a little minute.

    Once it’s done, knock off the heat and add about three-quarters of the cheese in small batches, whisking to a creamy consistency.

    Add the pasta and mix. Season with salt and pepper, then spoon into an 8×8-inch baking dish. Scatter the leftover cheese across the top and bake for about twenty-five minutes. When the top starts to look crunchy, and the edges are bubbling, it’s ready.

    Well, not really. Leave it on the counter, and play Magna-Tiles with the kids until it’s cooled enough, then serve.

    Notes

    If the butter starts to brown as it melts, the pan is WAY too hot. Turn it down a ways.

    I find I have an easier time of it if I sift the flour before adding it to the butter.

    I use Kraft Triple Cheddar Shredded Cheese straight from the bag for this recipe. Whatever you have in your fridge is fine.

    If you only have a non-stick aluminum pan, that’s fine, but for the love of God, use a wooden spoon instead of a whisk. It’ll be a little lumpy, but absolutely edible.

  • Braised Chicken and Leeks

    This recipe is dedicated to my good friend Keith, who cooked it for his children. He served it with mashed potatoes.

    Cue Winds of Change by Scorpions, lighters at the ready, go!

    This is for you, brother!

    SERVES: 4
    PREP TIME: 10 MINUTES
    COOK TIME: 50 MINUTES

    Ingredients

    4 good-sized chicken thighs
    2 leeks
    2 cloves of garlic
    1 lemon
    2 cups of chicken stock – make your own or buy at Stop&Shop
    2 tbsps of butter
    Olive oil
    Salt & pepper

    Method

    Prep

    Preheat your oven to 400°F/200°C.

    Rinse the chicken in cold water and pat dry. Set it aside. You don’t need it yet. The earlier you do this in the process, the better; you want that chicken skin bone dry.

    Rinse the leeks, remove any funky-looking leaves, and cut the bottom inch or so from both ends. Slice lengthwise, and chop into 1/2″ pieces. Rinse in a colander.

    Mince the garlic.

    Cooking

    Pan time!

    Get a large frying pan going over medium-low heat. Get the oil in. If it starts to smoke, man, that’s way too hot. Low and slow is the game we’re playing here.

    You need ears for the next bit:

    Liberally season the chicken with salt and pepper, and gently lay skin-side down in the pan. It should bubble, and sizzle, but not crackle or spit.

    Leave it alone for nine or ten minutes. Resist the temptation to hurry it along by turning up the heat.

    Flip it when the skin turns an attractive pale golden brown: more Goldie Hawn’s tresses than George Hamilton’s ballbag.

    Cook for an additional five minutes and remove from the pan.

    Chuck the garlic into the pan for a little minute, then add the leeks. Season with salt and pepper. Add stock and soften for a minute or two.

    Spoon the softened leeks into a 9×13 oven pan. If you have a leftover turkey roasting pan from Christmas, that’ll do just fine.

    Cut the ends off two lemons, then cut them in half. Make wells for the lemons and set them amongst the leeks.

    Artfully place the chicken atop the leek mixture.

    Cook for thirty minutes or so. When the lemon starts to burn, it’s about done.

    Serving

    When it’s out of the oven, remove the chicken and squeeze the lemon with tongs, or a pair of forks, or spoons, or whatever. Give the leeks a bit of a stir, and plate. Lay the chicken on top, and eat.

    Notes

  • Corned Beef Sloppy Joes

    I inherited this recipe from my mother-in-law. It sounds awful, but it’s strangely satisfying during daylight hours, and pure excellent late at night after a feed of pints.

    SERVES: 2
    PREP TIME: 2 MINUTES
    COOK TIME: 2 MINUTES

    Ingredients

    12oz tin of Libby’s Corned Beef
    1 packet of Lipton Onion Recipe Soup & Dip Mix
    1/2 cup sour cream
    8 hot dog buns

    Method

    In a mixing bowl, break up the corned beef, and fork in the sour cream and the dehydrated onion nastiness.

    While the Lipton Onion Recipe Soup & Dip Mix is considered ‘traditional’, omit if your doctor has you on Lisinopril.

    Microwave for two minutes, stopping one to stir.

    Spoon over open hot dog buns.

    Make sure you have your cardiologist on speed dial.

    Notes

    When my ladywife emigrated from Michigan to New York in the nineties for college, her family sent her off with a survival kit, which she still has somewhere. The kit contains everything a soon-to-be-eighteen-year-old might need to survive in New York: two types of screwdrivers, a pair of pliers, a phase tester, a roll of duct tape, and a recipe book of classic Midwest recipes. By classic, I mean novel uses for mayonnaise, novel uses for hotdogs, other things you can do with mayonnaise, and this gem.

  • Black Pudding and Avocado Toast

    SERVES: 1
    PREP TIME: 3 MINUTES
    COOK TIME: 7 MINUTES

    Ingredients

    4 slices of black pudding
    1 slice of sourdough bread
    1 avocado
    Salt & pepper
    Lemon juice

    Method

    Preheat your air fryer to 375°F/190°C.

    Halve the avocado and remove the pit. Squeeze the fruit into a bowl. Season, give it a squirt of lemon juice, and mash with a fork.

    Four half-inch slices of black pudding go in the fryer for seven minutes. Turn them over at the four-minute mark.

    Make the toast. You know how to make toast.

    Assembly

    I think you’re there already, but just in case:

    Avocado goes on toast. Pudding goes on avocado. The whole lot goes in your cake hole.

    Notes

    If you’re feeling like taking it up a notch, throw an egg on it: A poached egg.

    If I don’t have Irish black pudding to hand, and I’m jonesing, I’ll buy morcilla up the road. I’ve tried a few, and I like the Argentinian one the best.

  • Boiled Eggs

    Ingredients

    Eggs

    Method One

    Bring a medium-sized pan of water to a rolling boil. By rolling, I mean bubbling, gurgling, and busy sounding.

    With a slotted spoon, lower in your eggs.

    Let that alone for four and a half minutes.

    Remove from water with a slotted spoon.

    Method Two

    Put your eggs in a medium-sized pan and cover with about an inch of water.

    Heat on, bring the water to a boil. Take it off the heat. Let that sit for eight minutes.

    Remove from water.

    Notes

    The USDA requires that eggs be washed and ‘processed’ before being sold. And that’s fine, but washing the eggs removes the bloom, which is a natural coating on the egg that prevents bacteria from penetrating the shell. So puh-lease keep them in the fridge.
    If you have time, let your eggs come to room temperature before you start cooking. If you don’t, the eggs may crack when they meet boiling water for the first time and emit odd-looking whirly bits.

    To test the freshness of your eggs, treat them like witches.
    Fill a bowl with cold water, and drop the egg in. If it sinks and lies on its side, it’s innocent. If it sinks and stands somewhat upright, it’s innocent but a little older.
    If it floats, it’s guilty. Burn appropriately at the stake.

  • Tuna Pasta (Date Night Edition)

    This is the same basic recipe I’ve been making since I was in my twenties, but with some upmarket ingredients.

    SERVES: 2
    PREP TIME: 2 MINUTES
    COOK TIME: 10 MINUTES

    Ingredients

    12oz/340g canned tuna in oil – buy the fancy stuff
    2oz/56g anchovies in oil
    8oz/227g spaghetti (that’s half the box)
    2 garlic cloves, minced
    1/2 tsp chili flakes
    1 small onion, finely chopped
    1 lemon
    Salt & pepper

    Method

    Start the pasta.

    Open the tuna and drain the oil into a bowl. Same goes for the anchovies.

    Mince the garlic, mince the anchovies, and finely chop the onion.

    When the pasta is about a minute shy of ‘doneness,’ take it off the heat, saving a cup of the pasta water, and drain in a colander.

    Put the pot back on the heat, add the reserved oil. 

    When the oil is hot, add the onion, anchovies, and chili flakes. Sauté (bounce it around with a wooden spoon) until the onion is soft.

    Shag in the garlic while you’re at it.

    Add the water you saved, the pasta water, then the pasta to the pot.

    Toss gently for a minute or two, using a pair of wooden spoons, or whatever is handy. Forks, chopsticks, two old screwdrivers….

    Gently fork in the tuna. What you’re really trying to do here is pull the pasta over the tuna, rather than mash the tuna chunks into the pasta. If that doesn’t make sense now, it will when you’re at the stove.

    That goes into two big bowls. 

    Crack of pepper, go easy on the salt.

    Lemon zest goes over the top, then a good squeeze of lemon juice.

    Notes

    Anchovies are very salty, so you won’t need much additional seasoning unless you’re my father-in-law.

    My lady wife loves the heat the chili flakes add, but I prefer it without. Ditch the chili flakes for a more citrus-forward dish.

    If you don’t have a kitchen grater to zest the lemon, and don’t know where to buy one, I recommend the Stanley 6 in. Pocket Surform Plane, available at all major hardware stores.

  • Microwave Poached Egg

    There is, of course, a correct method to poach an egg, and this isn’t it. This method is for when you’re hungry, have to leave in fifteen to catch the 8:27, and don’t want cornflakes. Cornflakes are for the institutionalized, whose doctors wish they wouldn’t masturbate so much. I don’t eat cornflakes.

    SERVES: 1
    PREP TIME: 1 MINUTE
    COOK TIME: 1 MINUTE

    Ingredients

    1 egg
    Paprika
    Salt & pepper

    Method

    Put the kettle on.

    If you don’t own an electric kettle, you’ll have to get creative.

    When the kettle is off the boil, add a pinch of salt to a Pyrex jug, then about 250ml/8oz of hot water. If you overfill the jug, it will boil over.

    Crack the egg straight into the water. Cracking it into a ramekin first only adds a dish to wash.

    Microwave for 1 minute.

    Transfer the egg to a serving plate using a slotted spoon or, even better, onto hot buttered toast.

    Season with salt, pepper, and throw a good shake of paprika over the top.

    Notes

    Using your microwave to poach an egg is easy, but be prepared for a gentle learning curve. If you’re not satisfied with the doneness, cook for an additional 15 seconds, then rinse and repeat until it’s to your liking. It’s all about the wattage, darling!

    If you have a dog, you’ll be his or her hero while you’re figuring it all out.

    My father was having an issue with exploding yolks in the microwave, which he resolved – on the advice of my cousin’s widower – by poking a hole in the yolk with a knitting needle and covering the top of the mug he uses with clingfilm.
    “Right so Da!”

    I took some photos of an egg I made. I didn’t like them, so there are no photos. It’s an egg; you can use your imagination.