Air Fryer Hard “Boiled” Eggs

Okay. Do we really need another way to hard “boil” eggs? Probably not but this recipe shows exactly how versatile the air fryer really is. I wasn’t expecting it to work or work well but surprisingly it does. There is no sulfurous smell and icky green, gray yolk of an overcooked egg. The texture of the white isn’t chalky and the yolk isn’t grainy. The eggs peel like a dream. The shells practically slide off.

Will I always make my hard “boiled” eggs this way? I don’t know. I don’t eat a lot of hard “boiled” eggs but it was an interesting experiment to see just what the boundaries are on what the air fryer can do and do well.

Hard Boiled Eggs

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From My Forking Life

1 – 6 large eggs

Preheat your air fryer to 270 degrees. Place raw eggs in the air fryer basket and cook at 270 degrees for 15 minutes. When the timer goes off, remove the eggs and place in a bowl of ice water for 5 minutes to stop the cooking. Peel and enjoy.

Farmer’s Wife’s Breakfast Sausage (Whole 30)

Hey Guys, sorry I have been MIA around here but October was nasty for me. It started with the unexpected death of my cockatiel, Squeak, proceeded to a positive Covid diagnosis for one of my closest friends, Steph, and ended with me waiting to see if my friend, Audrey is going to end up testing positive with Covid. My capacity to deal with anything, much less deal with it in a positive way, was very limited. I didn’t want to bring my negativity here. I knew you all would understand,

As I always do when I am experiencing a tough time in my life, I spent a lot of time in the kitchen playing around with recipes for the blog. I have a lot of great recipes to share with you, including the start to my annual small batch Christmas treats posts. This post, however, is a post about lamb sausage. I tried lamb for the first time this summer and kind of became mildly obsessed with it. If you don’t have access to lamb or would just rather not pay for it, it can be kind of pricey, you could substitute any ground meat for the lamb. You can also play around with different types of vinegar. I couldn’t find my apple cider vinegar so I used balsamic instead.

• Difficulty: Easy
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Adapted From Epicurious.com

1/2 lb ground lamb

1 TBS ground fennel seed

1 TBS apple cider vinegar

1 TBS coconut aminos

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp ghee or olive oil

In a small bowl combine the lamb, fennel, cider vinegar, coconut aminos and salt.  Use your hand to mix well.   Divide the meat mixture into 4 equal size balls and then flatten into 4 patties of equal thickness.

In a medium pan over medium-high heat, add the 1 1/2 tsp ghee or olive oil.   When the oil is hot add the patties and cook for 4 -5 minutes or until they are browned.  Flip the patties and cook another 3-4 minutes. 

Kung Pao Chicken Lettuce Wraps (Whole 30)

This week I have spent a lot of time in the kitchen playing with my friend, Steph’s, Sunbeam Pie Maker and having so much fun doing it.  It makes 2 small pies in about 10 -15 minutes.  I am experimenting with making different kinds of crusts from scratch to make just two pies with no leftover dough and all sorts of fillings both sweet and savory.  These recipes will never show up here on A Solitary Feast because I am betting you don’t have a Sunbeam pie maker. But if you do and would like the recipes leave an email address in the comments and I’ll send them to you. 

The other cooking I am doing that will end up on A Solitary Feast is from my new favorite cookbook and blog, The Primal Gourmet by Ronny Joseph Lvovski.   His cookbook provides an awesome mix of what I consider fancier recipes and recipes you can throw together in a half hour.  He also has a section on with spice blends I haven’t tried yet and my new passion, sauces.   Best of all, every recipe  I have tried so far have been freaking delicious. 

• Difficulty: Easy
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From The Primal Gourmet Cookbook

Sauce:

Note:  This sauce is amazing and can be made anytime you need a Teryaki sauce

1/4 cup coconut aminos

1 TBS grated garlic, about 3 cloves

1 TBS arrowroot

1 TBS toasted sesame oil

1 tsp grated fresh ginger

1 tsp red pepper flakes

Chicken:

2 TBS oil

1 lb ground chicken

1 red bell pepper, diced

4 scallions, white and green parts, thinly sliced and seperated

Kosher salt

8 lettuce leaves, for serving

In a small bowl, combine all the sauce ingredients and whisk until well combined; set aside.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat for 5 minutes.  Increase the heat to high and add the oil.  When the oil is hot add the ground chicken.  Cook, stirring and breaking up the meat as it cooks, until the chicken is browned and most of the liquid had evaporated, 4-5 minutes.  Add the white part of the scallions,  red bell pepper and cashews.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the bell pepper has softened a little, 2-3 minutes.   Give the teriyaki sauce a stir then add it to the ground beef, stirring to coat.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is thickened, about 2 -3 minutes.  Sprinkle with scallion greens and serve on lettuce leaves.

Montreal Steak Spice (Whole 30)

Saturday was a good day. I met my friend, Steph, and we had a properly masked and social distanced day out. I really needed that. One of the last things we did is hit the ARC thrift store. I love hitting vintage and thrift stores because you never know what you are going to find. I get a lot of my vintage pyrex from thrift stores.

This time I didn’t find any pyrex but I did find a shit ton of Trivial Pursuit games. Trivial Pursuit is one of my favorite games. Most days I can barely remember my name but somehow I can remember obscure details of movies I watched 30 years ago, among other minutia of life. I haven’t played in years though because my family won’t play with me because they think I cheat. I don’t. I am just really good at trivia.

My friend, Steph, is made of sterner stuff. She said if I bought the games, she would play with me. So when we got back to my apartment, we played a game of Trivial Pursuit. We played and laughed, played and laughed some more. We played and laughed until we snorted and tears ran down our faces. It was a good day.

Montreal Steak Spice

• Difficulty: Easy
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From The Primal Gourmet Cookbook

2 kosher salt

2 tsp dehydrated onion flakes

2 tsp dehydrated garlic flakes

2 tsp red pepper flakes

1 tsp dill seeds

1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper

Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl.  Mix well.   Store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place. 

Stir Fry Meatballs (Whole 30)

Recently, I have started thinking about doing a podcast related to A Solitary Feast. It would not only cover topics related to small batch cooking and baking, it would include food, cooking and baking topics in general. I started brain storming potential topics this morning and , while I got fairly good start on potential pod cast topics, I thought I would ask you what food related topics you might like to see covered in a pod cast. If you have any ideas please leave them in the comments so I can add them to my list.

This pod cast idea is only in the very early stages of development. I have to be sure this is something I would want to do enough to keep at it because, unlike blogging, there is equipment I need to buy and a whole new skill set I need to learn. My friend, Steph, started a pod cast a while back and is helping me avoid some of the problems she had starting hers. It is fun to thinking about new things to add to the blog.

Stir Fry Meatballs

• Difficulty: Easy
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Adapted from the Castaway Kitchen

1 lb ground pork

1/2 cup shredded broccoli

1/2 cup shredded carrot

1 1/2 green onions, mince

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp dried parsley

1 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/8 tsp Chinese 5 spice powder

1 TBS coconut aminos

1 TBS almond flour

1 tsp sesame seeds

Sauce:

1 TBS coconut aminos

1 TBS spicy brown mustard

1 TBS cold bone broth

1 1/2 tsp rice wine vinegar

1/2 tsp fish sauce

1/2 tsp toasted sesame oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine ground pork, vegetables, garlic powder, salt, dried parsley, ginger, onion powder, cumin, Chinese 5 spice powder, coconut aminos and almond flour.

Shape into 12 meatballs and place on a sheet pan. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake 30 to 40 minutes until golden brown.

While the meatballs are cooking make the sauce, mix the coconut aminos, spicy brown mustard, bone broth, rice wine vinegar, fish sauce and toasted sesame oil in a small bowl. Mix well. Serve with the meatballs as a dipping sauce.