The airfryer express Airfried food from The Lunchbox Dad

all aboard THE AIR FRYER EXPRESS

Howdy! My name is George, and I’m also known as the School Lunchbox Dad … Google it! My first book, Lunchbox Express, was pretty good. Good enough for my publisher to say to me ‘Hey George, we know how much you love your air fryer and how popular your recipes are … we think it’s time you created your own George-style air fryer book.’ And so here we are, giving you a sneak peak of my new book Air Fryer Express. For those who don’t know me yet, I’m a dad from Geelong, Victoria, who loves rocking out to Pearl Jam, writing my own music and poetry, and also having fun in the kitchen. I love creating healthy and creative meals for my daughters, Anela and Kiara, and I’m a very hands-on dad. I’ve been married for almost 20 years to a complete stunner named Marina. I took over cooking and lunch-making duties for my girls a few years ago and ever since I have been looking for ways to make lunches fun, healthy, simple and quick! When I first started making school lunches, I would fire up the oven each morning just to bake a few pastries or scrolls. The girls loved the food I was making, but I had to look for a faster solution. Then, there it was, like a shining light from the heavens … the air fryer! It was a lot more economical, required no preheating and cooked food in half the time. I was instantly inspired when I unwrapped my first air fryer. It was so easy! Just plug in and play. It was a revelation when I discovered how much time I could save in the mornings using the air fryer. Pizza scrolls only took 8 minutes to cook compared to 25 minutes in the oven (including preheating time). That’s a 17-minute difference! I could have my breakfast and espresso, as well as make my wife a singleorigin fi ltered coffee in the time I had saved. When you are a busy parent or carer, time is of the essence.

The air fryer also gave me the opportunity to recreate some classic dishes that would usually take hours to cook in a regular oven. For example, when I was growing up, my mum would make baklava and it would take the whole day. Now I can make it in a fraction of that time. My wife and I both work full time, so we need to save as much time as possible. I think of air fryers as smart devices. Like smart phones, they make life easier and help us to get things done quickly. A lot of the recipes in this book are very important to me. For example, the gevrek recipe was my grandfather’s special recipe. He was a baker (maybe that’s where I get my passion for cooking?) and the recipe was sent to me from my aunties in Macedonia. I used to eat many of these dishes as a kid and they fill my soul. My mum got more satisfaction from my sister and me eating her food than anything else and that’s exactly how it is for me today with my girls. I get to express my love for them in the form of a beautiful dinner or a colourful and healthy school lunchbox. I’m so excited to share these lunchbox ideas with you because I have worked really hard developing recipes that I know you are going to absolutely love. I’m no chef, I’m just a hard-working dad with a passion for creating simple and healthy food and a mission to inspire people everywhere to make life a little more magical for their kids. With this book, I hope to make it easy for you to use your air fryer to whip up delicious, creative food for your family. Follow these recipes and you’ll be a kitchen rock star with loads more spare time to spend with the ones you love! x George Georgievski

Lunchbox Dad pizza scrolls

Makes 10

I’ve been making these scrolls for the past few years. They’re super popular with my girls and they fi t really snugly in their school lunchboxes. You can’t go wrong with pizza! What kid doesn’t like pizza?

Ingredients:

2 sheets of frozen puff pastry, just thawed 3 tablespoons tomato paste Small handful of basil leaves (optional) ½ cup grated mozzarella

Method:

Using a knife or a pizza cutter, cut each pastry sheet into five even strips. Grab a teaspoon and put a dollop of tomato paste in the centre of each pastry strip. Use the back of the spoon to evenly spread the paste over the strips, but avoid getting too close to the edges. At this point you can add the basil leaves or skip them and go straight for the mozzarella. Sprinkle the mozzarella along the centre of each pastry strip, again avoiding the edges. Now for the folding and rolling. Don’t stress, it’s easier than it sounds. Fold the pastry strips in half lengthways, to enclose the ingredients. Don’t worry if some of the grated mozzarella falls out – it’s all good as we’re not on MasterChef. Roll up the strips until you have created ten of the best ever pizza scrolls. Line the base of your air fryer with baking paper and pop the scrolls in. Cook on 180°C for 8 minutes or until golden brown. Allow the pizza scrolls to cool, then pack into lunchboxes or put them in an airtight container in the freezer where they will keep for up to 2 months. You can make vegan pizza scrolls by using non-dairy cheese. I’ve made them a few times and they’re pretty dang good, so for any lactoseintolerant little peeps this is a genuinely awesome lunchbox addition, after-school snack or even dinner.

Makes: 12 To serve: join at the top. Now make the Okay, so I’m gangsta … I thought Tomato sauce and mustard rest of the dawgs with the Rose-vanilla bath melts you should know that. I don’t make these ‘dawgs’ for the lunchbox as I don’t like the girls eating processed meat too often, but they are great for parties (and not just kids’ parties – these bad boys are the ultimate finger food for adults!). I blew my own mind the first time I made them as not only are they inexpensive, Method: Parboil the mini frankfurts – whatever the packet says, just cook them for half the amount of time. So, if it says boil the mini frankfurts for 6 minutes, boil them for 3 minutes. (I worked that out without a calculator.) remaining pastry, cheddar and frankfurts. Using a pastry brush, brush the tops with the beaten egg and sprinkle over the sesame seeds. Line the base of your air fryer with baking paper and pop the dawgs straight in. Cook on 175°C for 10 minutes or until they are puffed and golden. but they look amazing and taste While the frankfurts are boiling incredible. away, grab your pastry sheets Meanwhile, grab a platter Ingredients: 12 mini frankfurts and cut them in half, then cut each half into thirds so you have twelve rectangles. and a couple of small serving bowls. Fill one bowl with tomato sauce and the other 2 sheets of frozen puff pastry, with mustard – the kids will be just thawed Place half a slice of cheddar dipping their Puff Daddy dawgs 6 slices of cheddar, cut in half 1 egg, lightly beaten and a mini frankfurt at the base of one of the pastry rectangles, then roll it up and secure the into them. Arrange the dawgs on the platter, grab a handful of napkins and party on! 1 teaspoon sesame seeds pastry, preferably with the

Air Fryer Express by George Georgievski, Published by Plum, RRP $26.99, Photography by Nikole Ramsay

Crazy noodle veggies

This idea came to me after I watched a TV commercial of a kid eating soggy noodles with over-cooked vegetables. I thought, what?! Kids want crunchy, not sloppy! So this recipe was born. Intrigued? Good, read on. The idea is to use the air fryer in a nonconventional way to add crunch to delicious veggies. Because why not?

Serves: 4 Ingredients:

1 packet of 2-minute noodles 2 small carrots, quartered lengthways 2 broccoli florets 1 small zucchini, quartered lengthways 1 small eggplant, quartered lengthways 1 small red capsicum, quartered lengthways 1 teaspoon salt flakes 1 tablespoon olive oil

To serve (optional):

Tomato sauce Natural yoghurt Your favourite spicy dipping sauce

Method:

Firstly, pop the 2-minute noodles (don’t break them up) in a heatproof bowl and pour in enough boiling water to just cover them. Set aside for 1 minute only. Do not add any of the additives from the packet. Parboil the veggies in a saucepan of boiling water for 3 minutes, then transfer to a large bowl. Add the salt and olive oil and toss to combine. Drain the noodles and return them to the heatproof bowl. Pick up a long strand of noodles and wrap it around one of the vegetable pieces, almost like the ancient Egyptians did with their mummies. Repeat until the veggie piece is nicely covered in noodles, then set aside and do the same thing for the remaining vegetables and noodles. Line the base of your air fryer with baking paper and pop the noodle-wrapped veggies in. Cook on 175°C for 5 minutes. We want to give the veggies colour and crunch to encourage our little humans to eat them. Allow the crazy noodle veggies to cool a little before you feed the troops. Serve with a sprinkle of salt and bowls of tomato sauce or natural yoghurt for dipping, if you like. If adults are going to be eating these too, you could also serve them with a spicy dipping sauce, such as Vietnamese nuoc mam.