[4 recipes] Quick Meals Using the New Philips Avance XL Airfryer

Rosemary Chicken with Sweet Potato Fries plus Chocolate Cherry Pound Cake

Whipping up healthier meals by reducing (or omit) the amount of salt, sugar and oil intake makes it a better diet for everyone in the family. And being the main cook for the family I always try my best to prepare their favourite food with a twist to safeguard our body functions. Example, using coconut or olive oil for in our dish or bake; incorporate more fibres, greens, proteins and fresh fruits in our daily diet plus always source for "fresh ingredients" to prepare our meals.

Philips Avance XL Airfryer

Every since I uploaded a video clip over at my Instagram on my new kitchen gadget; the New Philips Avance XL Airfryer. I have been receiving comments and requests on sharing my reviews as well as related recipes made using this gadget.

I believe most of you have seen their roadshow demo on how to prepare common frozen / deep-fried food such as fries, nuggets, chicken wings, pizza and etc. But our review post(s) in order to test out the performance and availability of this new appliance we decided to work on a few recipes such as baking a pound cake, air-fried sweet potato and avocado fries plus whipping a cafe style breakfast with croissant and cheesy baked egg in less than 15 minutes.

For more details and functions of the New Philips Avance XL Airfryer you could also check out our product review post under kitchen gadget section HERE. 

CROISSANT WITH HAM, MUSHROOM AND EGG

[Cafe-style Breakfast] Baked Ham, Mushroom and Egg served with Croissant and Salad

Cafe-style breakfast can be easily done in an Airfryer in less than 10 minutes where you could reheat store-bought croissant (sourdough bread / bun and etc) together with the accompany Baked Cheesy Ham, Mushroom and Egg inside the larger basket of the new Philips Avance XL Airfryer.  

Ingredients for Baked Cheesy Ham, Mushroom and Egg

(Yield: 1 | Preparation: 5 minutes | Cooking: 8 minutes)

Ingredients:

• 1 Croissant (store-bought)
• 3 Slices of Honey Shaved Ham
• 4 Small Button Mushroom, quartered
• 4 Honey Cherry Tomato, halved
• 50g Shredded Cheddar / Mzzarella Cheese
• 1 Egg
• 1/2 Sprig of Rosemary (optional), roughly chopped
• Handful of Salad Greens

Step-by-Step on how to prepare the baked cheesy ham and mushroom egg.

Method:
1. Lightly grease a baking dish (L:W:H - 16cm : 10cm : 4cm) with butter to prevent ingredients from sticking on the sides after baking.

2. Arrange the ingredients in two layers with shredded cheese in the middle and top layer.

3. Make a space in the middle of the ham mixture, crack in the egg.

4. Sprinkle some freshly ground black pepper, pinch of salt and chopped rosemary over the mixture and place it on the basket of the Airfryer together with the croissant (refer to the photo above).

5. Baked in preheated 160°C (Degree Celsius) temperature for 8 minutes (remove the croissant from the basket after 4 minutes) or +/- the timing accordingly to your preference of cooked egg (runny, half-cooked or fully cooked).

6. Lastly arrange the croissant and cheesy baked egg on serving plate together with some salad greens and serve immediately.

Runny egg yolk after being baked in the 160 degree Airfryer for 8 minutes.

[Cafe Style Breakfast] Croissant with Ham and Scrambled Egg

Another easy to prepare cafe-style breakfast/brunch where you can reheat the croissant together with  ham/bacon using the air-fryer on 160 Degree Celsius for 5 minutes while preparing the scrambled egg on stove. Recipe and short video clip on how to prepare cafe-style creamy scrambled egg can be found in another separate post HERE.

ROSEMARY CHICKEN WITH SWEET POTATO FRIES

[Quick Lunch] Rosemary Chicken with Sweet Potato Fries

For a healthier alternative to the regular potato fries I decided to swap it with some orange sweet potato fries to go with my air-fried rosemary chicken breast (chicken mid-joints, chicken wings or drumstick can be used for this recipe too). And like what mentioned above, I prefer using fresh ingredients to test out the recipes in order to justify the functions of this appliance because I don't wish to use it just for reheating/air-fried frozen food.

I am quite happy with the end result of my brunch because at least I don't need a good 500ml or more of oil to deep-fried my sweet potato fries and furthermore the oil from cooking the chicken was also being drained to the pan below the basket (refer to the photo above step 8 shown below).

(Yield: 1 | Preparation: 10 minutes | Cooking: 20 minutes)

Ingredients For Sweet Potato Fries

• 1 Medium Sweet Potato (150g), cut into long 8mm thick fries
• 1/4 Teaspoon Dried Parsley
• 1/4 Teaspoon Olive Oil
• Pinch of Sea Salt

Ingredients For Rosemary Chicken

• 1/2 Chicken Breast (250g - with bone attached)
• 1 Spring of Rosemary, roughly chopped
• 1/2 Teaspoon Dried Chilli Flakes
• 1/2 Teaspoon Olive Oil
• 1 Teaspoon Honey
• Pinch of Sea Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Steps on preparing the Rosemary Chicken with Sweet Potato Fries

Method:
1. Peel the sweet potato and cut it into 8mm long thick fries. Rinse it with water and drain thoroughly then pat dry with kitchen paper towel.

2. Lightly toss the fries with dried parsley, olive oil and pepper while preheating the Airfryer to 160°C (Degree Celsius).

3. Transfer prepared fries to the Airfryer basket (refer to the 1st photo above the ingredients list with the uncooked fries in the basket), slide the basket into the Airfryer and set the timer for 10 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, trim, rinse and pat dry the chicken breast then lightly coat it all over with olive oil. Sprinkle the skin side up with some ground pepper, pinch of sea salt, dried chilli flakes, chopped rosemary and drizzle of honey. Set aside.

5. When the timer beeps, slide out the basket and shake the fries to toss them evenly then arrange them to one side and place the marinated chicken breast on another end.

[Quick Lunch] Rosemary Chicken with Sweet Potato Fries

6. Next adjust the temperature to 180°C (Degree Celsius) and set the timer for another 12 minutes.

7. After 4-5 minutes; slide out the basket remove the fries, sprinkle with some sea salt and set aside (keep warm). Continue to cook the chicken breast until the timer beeps or until meat is cooked through.

Oil collected on the baking pan below through the basket.

8. Remove chicken to serving plate together with sweet potato fries and some salad green and serve.

[Quick Lunch] Rosemary Chicken with Sweet Potato Fries

The texture of the chicken breast was nicely done after 12 minutes on 180 degree in the Airfryer and to my surprise  the meat was tender and juicy when cut through too.

CHOCOLATE CHERRY POUND CAKE

[Afternoon Tea] Chocolate Cherry Pound Cake

Baking a cake in the Airfryer has never come across my mind even though I have another older version (viva collection which was given to me by a friend years back) because I don't think an Airfryer can produce similar or equally good result as an convectional oven. But after testing out this Chocolate Cherry Pound Cake using my new Avance XL Airfryer, I was proven wrong with the end result immediately.

The cakes were done within 22 minutes with a velvety texture shown in the cross-section view below which really amazed me. I guess now I could just rely on this new appliance to make small portion of cake/muffins for morning breakfast or tea break instead heating up my 45L convectional oven.

Ingredients for Chocolate Cherry Pound Cake

(Yield: 2 mini loaf | Preparation: 10 minutes |  Baking: 20 - 23 minutes)

Ingredients:

• 150g Plain Flour
• 150g Unsalted Butter, soften
• 80g Castor Sugar
• 3 Eggs (55g each)
• 1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
• 12 Cherries, half and seeds removed
• 50g Dark Chocolate Chips (optional)
• Zest of 1 Lemon
• 15ml of Lemon Juice
• Pinch of Salt

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 160°C (degree Celsius) by adjust the temperature button (left side) and press Start (you can refer to the control menu on another post HERE).

Step-by-step on preparing the chocolate cherry pound cake

2. Cream butter, sugar and lemon zest using an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time until well mixed.

3. Next add in sieved flour mixtures (flour, baking powder and salt) follow by lemon juice and mix till no trace of flour found before adding the dark chocolate chips if using.

4. Pour batter into mini disposal loaf pan, arranged the cherries on the batter.

5. Place the loaf pan into the Airfryer basket and slide the basket in. Set the timer for 25 minutes (timing might vary from different models of Airfryer) check the cake at around 20 minutes or until a skewer insert in the middle and comes out clean.

[Afternoon Tea] Chocolate Cherry Pound Cake

Cross-section of the Chocolate Cherry Pound Cake being baked in the Airfryer for about 22 minutes.

A short cooking clip on preparing the cake batter and bake in Airfryer.

Disposal Bakeware from Diaso, Singapore

You can place two of these mini disposal loaf pan together in the new Philips Avance XL Airfryer with recipes using 150g flour like what mentioned above. For your information, these disposal loaf pan comes in a pack of 4 (W: L: H: - 5.3 x 9.5 x 4.7cm) at SG$2.00 from Diaso, Singapore.

[Afternoon Tea] Chocolate Cherry Pound Cake

Frankly speaking this pound cake does impress me with its soft and moist texture that comparable to those baked using an conventional oven. Even bestie and her family who received and tried this cake (photo from Susan) comments that they can't tell it was baked using an Airfryer.

AIR-FRIED HERBAL CHICKEN WITH PURPLE SWEET POTATO

[Quick Meal] Air-fried Herbal Chicken with Purple Sweet Potato

Second recipes on Air-fried chicken done within the same week because the end result was really amazing with crispy outer skin (that's does not taste oily like those deep-fried chicken) and tender texture that I wanted mum to witness and try the taste.

The trick for this dish is to seal the outer skin with high temperature then force out the fats which that drip down through the basket to the pan. Now with an Airfryer we can enjoy our favourite roast chicken in any flavour such as; honey baked, teriyaki, black pepper, peri peri and etc whenever we feel like having it. 

(Yield: 2 | Preparation: 5 minutes | Cooking: 22 minutes)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 Portion of Chicken, halved
• 1 Tablespoon SEAHS Emperor Herbs Chicken Spices
• 1 Teaspoon Olive Oil
• Some Small Purple Sweet Potato, brushed clean and pat dry
• Some Salad Green

[Quick Meal] Preparing Air-fried Herbal Chicken and Purple Sweet Potato

Method:
1. Trim, rinse and pat dry the chicken then marinated it with 1 tablespoon (or 1.5 tablespoon for stronger taste) of Seahs Emperor Herbs Chicken Spices and olive oil for at least an hour or overnight in the fridge.

2. Place sweet potato in the basket of the Airfryer, set temperature to 180°C (degree Celsius) and cook for 10 minutes.

3. When the timer beeps, slide open the drawer and arrange the marinated chicken on the basket (move the sweet potato aside to create space) and set timer for another 12 minutes.

4. Check the colour of the air-fried chicken during the last 4 - 5 minutes (to ensure they are nicely brown) then reduce the temperature to 180°C (degree Celsius) and continue to cook until the timer beeps again.

5. Stand the food in the Airfryer for another minute or so before removing them on serving plate and serve with salad greens.

A short cooking clip on preparing the Air-fried Herbal Chicken and Purple Sweet Potato.

AIR-FRIED AVOCADO FRIES

[Finger Food] Air-fried Avocado Fries

Air-fried Avocado Fries is another quick recipe with crispy outer layer, creamy and nutty flavour when beneath those crust which makes it an additive all-time favourite finger food. Moreover this healthy snack can be easily done in an Airfryer anytime of the day in less than 6 minutes and best part is this does taste like eating "ebi fry" but without the shrimp. And the most important fact is NO OIL required.

Air-fried Avocado Fries recipe is updated @ http://www.ellenaguan.com/2014/07/3-recipes-using-avocado.html


Our verdict on the new Philips Avance XL Airfryer:

PROS
- Digital touch screen control panel which makes it easier for everyone in the family;

- Food prepared in the Airfryer requires shorter time as compared to the convectional oven;

- Amazed by the taste of the "air-fried" which remains tender and juicy just the way we love it.

- Oil and Fats are being drained through the cooking basket onto the pan below;
- Other than"air-fried", you can also grill, roast, bake and gratinate using the Airfryer.

CONS
- I find it a bit difficult to wash the cooking basket as it has sharp edges on the sides and around the handle area which needs to be careful on that.

- Cleaning might be a bit tedious when baking whole chicken or pork belly as the interior might be greasy caramelized residues tends to stick on the basket too.

[UPDATED AT 08 Apr 2016] Part 2 of Airfryer recipes are available @ http://www.ellenaguan.com/2016/04/recipes-using-philips-airfryer.html


*Disclosure: I was given a set of the new Philips Avance XL Airfryer for this review purpose by the folks of Philips Singapore. All opinions expressed in this post are my own and there is no monetary compensation received.