Topic: Mains / Dinner

We’ve teamed up with our good friend’s Bold Bean & Co in creating a perfectly spiced bean dish, accompanied with sweet, slow roasted carrots and crispy kale to add texture.

Bold Bean & Co’s Organic White Beans (haricot beans) are perfect to use for this dish as their bean’s are slow-cooked which allows them to hold their shape, creating the perfect, buttery and smooth flavour.

Amongst a bundle of spices such as chilli, cumin and garam masala, we add carrots to bring a gentle sweetness to the dish, with also a generous pinch of Maldon Salt to enhance the sweet notes and counteract the bitterness.

  1. Preheat the oven to 180C.
  2. Start by roasting the carrots. Peel the carrots and cut them into 2-inch pieces, then toss in some olive oil and 1 tsp of cumin seeds. Season with Maldon Salt and pepper and place in the oven to roast for 15 minutes.
  3. While the carrots are cooking, start the spiced beans.
  4. Melt the coconut oil in a large sauté pan. Add the diced onion and cook gently until softened. Then add the garlic, chilli, and ginger and cook for another minute. Then add the cumin seeds, turmeric, black mustard seeds, garam masala and ground coriander and cook for another minute. Follow this with the chopped tomatoes. Cook these down gently until they collapse and soften.
  5. Once the tomatoes are soft, add the Bold Beans & Co White Beans – including their juices – and the coconut milk to the pan, and mix. Then gently simmer this for 10 minutes until lovely and thickened. Season well with Maldon Salt and cracked black pepper.
  6. Once the carrots are cooked remove from the oven and tip out of the baking tray. In the same baking tray then add the kale leaves.
  7. Drizzle in olive oil and a good pinch of Maldon Salt and scrunch together with your hands so they are well coated. Place this back in the oven for 5 – 10 minutes until crispy but still green.
  8. Remove from the oven.
  9. To serve, spoon the beans into bowls and top with the cumin roasted carrots, crispy kale, and some coriander. Serve alongside some natural yoghurt and mango chutney.

This recipe will show you how to bake a potato in an air fryer to achieve a deliciously crispy skin and a fluffy centre.

Air-fried foods, like jacket potatoes, are taking the world by storm due to the many benefits it can bring, from being energy efficient to speeding up the cooking by 40 minutes! In contrast, baking a jacket potato in the oven at 200C will take roughly 1 hour – 1 hour 20 minutes – that’s a pretty long time when you can have a perfectly baked potato in minutes. Plus, it’s a easy to make, you simply put the potato in the air fryer basket and bake!

You can use two methods to make a showstopping jacket potato in the air fryer:

  1. Microwave them first, and then finish off the baking process in the air fryer.
  2. Air frying them for the full length of time.

Our recipe follows the second method, where we will be air frying the jacket potato for the whole duration. This is the easier method to follow as you do not need any further equipment!

If you are wanting to microwave the potatoes first, we recommend cooking on high for 8 minutes, and then air frying for a further 8 minutes. This method will is quicker than our method, as you are speeding up the cooking process with heating the jacket potato in the microwave first, softening the outer, hard skin.

When choosing what type of jacket potato to bake with, we recommend medium to large varieties that have soft, fluffy centres. Specific types of potatoes you need to look for are Maris Piper or King Edwards as these are considered the best for baking. If you are based in America, we recommend looking for Russet Potatoes, which are also known as Idaho potatoes.

How to cook jacket potatoes in an air dryer?

  1. Start by washing the potatoes to remove any dirt and impurities. Then, pat dry with kitchen paper or a towel.
  2. Begin pricking the potatoes with a fork. We recommend pricking about 4 times around each potato.
  3. Transfer the potatoes to a plate or bowl, rubbing with olive oil and a generous sprinkle of Maldon sea salt flakes. Set aside.
  4. Spray the air fryer basket with cooking spray or cooking oil to create a non-stick layer so that the potatoes will not stick together.
  5. Arrange the potatoes in a single layer in the air fryer basket.
  6. Set the air fryer to 200c and cook for 40 minutes until the potatoes are crispy on the outside and fluffy in the middles. We rotated the potatoes after 20 minutes to have an even bake on each side. The baked potatoes should be done when a sharp knifes can go through them easily.
  7. When baked, the skin on the jacket potatoes should be perfectly crisp and the inside tender and fluffy as you cut through the centre.

What to have with jacket potatoes?

Toppings and fillings:

We chose to fill our jacket potato with a classic tuna mayonnaise. The combination of tuna, creamy mayonnaise with a handful of spring onion and chives gives this lunchtime favourite plenty of flavour and is easy to make.

Here is how to make tuna mayonnaise:

  1. Drain the tuna and add to a bowl.
  2. Mix with the mayonnaise, a pinch of Maldon sea salt flakes, cracked black pepper, chopped chives and spring onions.
  3. Open the jacket potatoes and melt some butter on first.
  4. Spoon in the tuna mayonnaise, and top with grated cheddar. Sprinkle with a final few chives.

Other toppings can include:

What to serve with jacket potatoes:

Can you cook frozen jacket potatoes in an air fryer?

The simple answer is yes!

You can certainly cook frozen jacket potatoes in the air fryer. We used McCain Ready Baked Jacket Potatoes, which are already pre-oven baked and are super convenient if you are struggling for time and want a tasty, fuss-free meal!

As the jacket potatoes are already pre-oven baked, simply put them in the air fryer at 180C for around 20 minutes. Depending on the size of the potato, cooking time may vary slightly so keep having intervals between baking to see if they are baking evenly.

Squash is one of the most exciting vegetables to grow as they come in so many shapes and sizes. One of my favourite autumn recipes is squash soup, seasoned with fresh herbs, Maldon Salt and topped with crispy mushrooms.

  1. Pre-heat your oven to 220 degrees Celsius. Start by taking the skins off the squash. The best way to do this is with a knife rather than a peeler.
  2. Chop up the squash into cubes and place on a baking tray with red onions and garlic cloves in their skins. Add thyme, a drizzle of olive oil and plenty of Maldon Salt and pepper.
  3. Once the vegetables are soft, take the skins off the garlic and add to a pan with the squash, vegetable stock, a tin of chopped tomatoes and a pinch of Maldon Salt and pepper. Cook for about 10 minutes and then blitz with a hand blender or food processor.
  4. Place the mushrooms on a lined baking tray with olive oil, season with Maldon Salt and roast them until crispy.
  5. To serve, spoon the soup into bowls, add the crispy mushrooms, pepper and a final sprinkle of Maldon. Delicious
  1. Start by making the bechamel. Heat the butter in a pan until foaming and then add the plain flour and cook out so it forms a paste and starts to smell toasty, then slowly add the milk whisking between each addition until you have a smooth and creamy sauce. Add the nutmeg and grated cheeses and stir through until melted. Season well with Maldon Salt and cracked black pepper.
  2. Assemble the sandwiches – Start with one slice of sourdough and spread with the mustard then top with turkey meat and stuffing, followed by some cranberry sauce and some of the grated gruyere cheese. Then top with the second piece of sourdough, pressing down so everything is packed in well. Repeat with the second sandwich.
  3. Heat a good knob of butter in a frying pan and then cook the sandwich for about 2 mins on each side until golden brown and the cheese is melting. Then heat up the grill.
  4. Place the sandwiches on a baking tray and spread over the bechamel on the top piece of bread, followed by some more grated gruyere. Place them under the grill until bubbling, melted and lightly golden.
  5. While the sandwiches are grilling, fry the Burford brown eggs. Top the sandwiches with the fried eggs, sprinkle with chopped chives and a final season of Maldon Salt and cracked black pepper. Serve alongside a peppery green salad and some extra mustard.

Join us in creating the show stopping dish of slow cooked duck legs, paired with the festive fruits of blackberries and oranges alongside the spices of star anise and cinnamon. We’ve partnered up with Le Creuset in slow cooking this dish in their Cast Iron Shallow Casserole dish, which has a depth perfect to soak up the juices into the duck legs, causing it to be succulent and tender for your Christmas feast!

  1. Preheat the oven to 160C.
  2. Place a large casserole onto heat. Brown off the duck legs on both sides, starting on the skin side. Once browned, remove from the pan and add the shallots and sliced garlic, frying them until they soften and start to go golden.
  3. Next add the flour and cook into the sauce for a few minutes until it has thickened. Then add the red wine and stock, allow it to bubble and come to the boil.
  4. Add the duck legs back into the casserole along with 2/3 of the blackberries, the orange slices, cinnamon sticks, star anise a pinch of Maldon Salt and rosemary sprigs.
  5. Cover and transfer to the oven for 1-hour 30mins. Once cooked add the remaining blackberries and serve.
  6. To make the mash, add the celeriac to a pan with the stock and milk and bring to the boil. Simmer gently until the celeriac is tender. Mash or pass through a ricer and then stir through a knob of butter and a pinch of Maldon Salt.
  7. Serve the duck legs with the celeriac mash and some sautéed greens.

Romy Gill creates the delicious Moong Bean Dal ahead of the Diwali festivities. Moong Bean Dal is a highly popular vegetarian dish and contains a bundle of nutrients and high protein.

Did you know the that Moong dal is the split version of the whole mung bean? When melting away in the pot whilst cooking, the bean retains a gentle softness and gives a whole vegetal and beany taste towards to the dish. Romy enhances this further through the use of adding tadka, where ground spices are heated in ghee and then mixed together with the Moong Beans.

  1. Soak the lentils for couple of hours or overnight. Wash and drain the water from the soaked lentils.
  2. Add the lentils to a medium-sized saucepan with Maldon Salt, turmeric and water.
  3. Cook the lentils until soft for about 40 minutes on medium heat and occasionally stir.
  4. While the lentils are cooking, we make the tadka. Heat the ghee in a frying pan, once the ghee has melted, add chopped spring onions and cook for 1 minute.
  5. Add the grated ginger, chopped green chillies and cook for 3 minutes. Add the chopped tomato and chopped coriander into the pan and cook for another 4 minutes.
  6. Lowering the heat, add yogurt and garam masala, combining well together. Add the tadka to the moong dal. Add the rest of the water to the pan.
  7. Whilst mixing slowly together, cook on low heat for about 5 minutes.
  8. Leave to rest before eating with any flat bread or rice.

The taste of a simple roast chicken can be very neutral and bland at times. Romy Gill has elevated this classic dish with the warming spices of tandoori masala and chilli powder to give a real kick of flavour to the chicken.

To pair with the spicy chicken, Romy also serves sweet potatoes, roasted whole to give a gentle sweetness to the dish with a hearty salad to go with it. You can find the recipe for the sweet potatoes here.

  1. In bowl add tandoori masala; chilli powder, Greek yogurt, grated garlic cloves, honey, thyme stems, half the juice of a lemon, oil and Maldon Salt, whisking it together. Then apply the paste to the whole chicken evenly, leaving it in the fridge to marinate for at least 2 hours before roasting.
  2. After 2 hours, take the marinated chicken out and leave it to rest under room temperature whilst the oven is getting hot. Preheat the oven at 180C.
  3. Place the chicken on a baking tray and cover the chicken with a foil, making sure to seal the tray with the foil on all the sides properly.
  4. Put the chicken in the oven and cook for 1 hour, 30 minutes. Leave to rest for 10 minutes before eating.
  5. Serve with roasted sweet potatoes and a leafy salad.

Join Romy Gill in creating these deliciously stuffed courgettes, filled with lamb mince and a bundle of spices to give a burst of flavour to the dish.

Courgettes can have a slightly sweet flavour when roasted in the oven. When they are stuffed with the gorgeous, succulent filling of lamb mince it causes the ordinary courgette to become much versatile when cooking. You can find over lamb dishes including our Slow Cooked Lamb Shoulder!

  1. Cut the courgettes in half and then scoop the flesh out. Mash the flesh in a bowl, mixing in the lamb mince; garlic, banana shallot, ground black pepper, paprika, turmeric, ground coriander, 1tsp Maldon Salt, tomato purée and chopped mint.
  2. Heat 3tsp of olive oil in a pan and add the mixture. Cook the mixture for 6-7 minutes on high heat.
  3. Once the mixture is half cooked, keep aside to cool down.
  4. Preheat the oven to 180C.
  5. While the oven is getting hot, fill the courgettes with the mixture. Sprinkle over the top of the filled courgettes with Maldon Salt and add the panko bread crumbs for a crispy crunch.
  6. Cook until golden brown for around 10 minutes.
  7. Enjoy with flat breads and a leafy salad on the side.

After 30 years in the making, Piper’s Farm has recently released their new cookbook ‘The Sustainable Meat Cookbook: Recipes & Wisdom for Considered Carnivores’. With over 100 seasonal recipes, the book explores the celebration of meat and the ethicality that comes with it. Within the cookbook is the autumnal favourite, the humble Toad in the Hole.

A true classic that makes the perfect midweek meal. We have spruced up this family favourite by adding some beautiful squash to give you an extra portion of delicious vegetables, making the meat go even further. With a good pinch of Maldon Salt, the warming flavours are elevated amongst the succulent sausages. Serve with lashings of onion gravy and you have the ultimate crowd-pleasing dish.

  1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas mark 6.
  2. To make the batter, add the flour to a mixing bowl with a good pinch of Maldon Salt and pepper. Add the eggs and gently whisk in the milk to form a smooth batter. Set aside to rest for 30 minutes.
  3. Place the squash wedges in a wide baking tray with the sausages, a drizzle of olive oil, rosemary, garlic and Maldon Salt and pepper. Bake for 25 minutes until the squash is tender and the sausages are cooked.
  4. To the roasting tin filled with squash and sausages, add the lard and place in the oven to heat up for about 5 minutes.
  5. When the tray is very hot, add the batter and quickly return to the oven. Bake for 30 minutes. Five minutes before the toad in the hole is ready, sprinkle over the Cheddar and return to the oven to melt and bubble.
  6. To make the gravy, add a drizzle of olive oil to a pan over a medium heat and slowly cook the onions for about 25 minutes until fully softened and lightly golden.
  7. Then add the miso paste, Worcestershire sauce and water to the onions. Bring to the boil and season with Maldon Salt.
  8. Serve the toad in the hole with the onion gravy and some seasonal greens.

Aubergine lends itself brilliantly here as it is such a meaty vegetable that works perfectly with Asian flavours. Sandwiched between fluffy homemade bao buns and topped with pickled smashed cucumber, salty peanuts, and lots of coriander – these are so good, and you really won’t miss the meat.

  1. Start by making your bao buns – in a large bowl, mix together the flour, caster sugar and Maldon Salt. In a small bowl or jug mix together 1 tbsp of warm water with the yeast and a pinch of sugar and then make a well in the flour and add the yeast mixture along with the milk, oil, rice vinegar and water. Mix to make a dough.
  2. In a kitchen aid, knead the dough with the dough hook for 5 minutes until smooth and springy. Place in an oiled bowl and cover with clingfilm, leaving it to prove until doubled in size.
  3. Place the dough back into the kitchen aid and add the baking powder, kneading again for 5 minutes. Make into 18 balls of dough, rolling them in your hands and then placing onto a lightly oiled tray.
  4. Roll them out with a rolling pin into an oval shape (makes roughly 18) and then use some oil and a chopstick to fold them into little envelopes. Place each one onto some baking parchment and leave to prove again until they double in size.
  5. Once risen. Heat a steamer with some water at the bottom. Steam the buns on their sheets of parchment until puffed up and fluffy.
  6. Before you steam the buns, make the aubergine filling. Mix together the miso, rice vinegar, agave and mirin in a small bowl. Cut the aubergine into chunks and toss well in the miso glaze. Place into the preheated oven and roast until soft, charred and sticky.
  7. To make the pickled cucumber, cut the cucumber in half and then skin side up, bash the cucumber with the back of your knife so it breaks up on the board. Then roughly chop it into small pieces. Place in a bowl along with the garlic, rice vinegar, soy sauce, chilli oil, sugar, and sesame oil. Toss well so it is all coated and leave to infuse.
  8. Serve the bao buns filled with the sticky aubergine, some of the smashed cucumbers, sliced radishes, chopped salted and roasted peanuts, sesame seed shichimi and coriander.