TGIFood

Simplicity ruled the kitchen this year — as your top picks show

Two-in-one: diced potatoes and chopped onions are cooked together in an air fryer for a perfect side dish to a juicy steak. (Photo: Tony Jackman)

By Tony Jackman

20 Dec 2024

Glazed carrots. Who would have thought? The most popular air fryer recipe — in fact, the most popular of all of our recipes — in 2024 was carrots cooked in an air fryer.

More than half of your favourite TGIFood recipes of 2024 were cooked in an air fryer — and of the remainder, one of them was cooked in a piece of equipment that most of us don’t own. If this tells us anything, perhaps it’s that people are looking for new ways to cook things, and may have become a tad bored with the old ways and implements.

But another explanation would be convenience and speed. Other than the air fryer, the vessel that stands out in our list of the 12 most popular recipes of the year is the cataplana. If you’re frowning at that, you may have missed my story from March this year. I wrote then: “A dear friend in Portugal sent me an early birthday present by courier. It is a cataplana, a clam-like cooking vessel from the Algarve region that hugs the Atlantic. That evening, I made a seafood stew in it. In Portugal, the stew itself is also called a cataplana.”

Unwrapping my cataplana. (Photo collage: Tony Jackman)

That cataplana dish is No 4 in the list of the 10 most popular recipes of 2024. But in first place were those glazed carrots, followed at No 2 by my Three Bean and Three Pepper Salad and, at No 3, my recipe for roast pork sirloin and crackling in the air fryer.

No 5, after the cataplana recipe, was a Lekker Brekker Monday Recipe — a breakfast fry-up with a difference, for which I spruced up the usual suspects of an English breakfast.

In sixth position was my air fryer recipe for roast chicken thighs with gin and orange, aka my late parents’ favourite tipple. This recipe absolutely flew when it was published, and for good reason. It’s certainly one of my personal picks.

At No 7 was another breakfast recipe — baked beans on toast, specced up. This was no surprise to me, because it has been clear for the past six years of TGIFood that people love the simple things, especially when they’re been given a bit of extra interest.

The air fryer is back with the recipe at No 8 — cheesy mushroom toasties — and at No 9 as well (zesty roast potatoes). And in 10th place was yet another air fryer story: The best potato side dish for a juicy steak.

The top 10 of 2024, in order from No 1:

Glazed carrots in your air fryer, with a rosemary trick

AirFryday hash: Tony Jackman’s caramelised carrots roasted in the air fryer. 3 May 2024. (Photo: Tony Jackman)

This recipe registered with scores of TGIFood fans. As with most vegetable recipes for the air fryer, it is madly quick to cook, with results that are crunchy yet tender, and a lovely shine on the glaze.

Three bean & three pepper salad

Three bean and three pepper salad. (Photo: Tony Jackman)

Our salad recipes are flying now that the hot weather is here. This one is substantial and can be served as a meal in itself. TGIFood closes this weekend for a brief end-of-year break, but in early January you’ll find Salad Days recipes here every Tuesday throughout the hot months.

Crackling good roast pork sirloin in your air fryer

Crackling good: Tony Jackman’s pork sirloin roasted in a small air fryer, with an astonishing result. May 2024. (Photo: Tony Jackman)

Our pork crackling “quest” goes all the way back to the launch of TGIFood six years ago this week. The only aromatic other than salt and pepper was caraway seeds. Pork sirloin is a lovely cut of pork for a roast and a handsome fat cap that turns into beautiful crackling.

Seafood cataplana — made in a cataplana

Wok’s this?: Hot chilli prawns cooked in a cataplana, with rice vermicelli noodles. (Photo: Tony Jackman)

So yes, “cataplana” is the name of the cooking vessel as well as the dish made in it. It is most often used for seafood, but my friend in Cascais says that “virtually anything” can be cooked in one.

A breakfast fry-up with a difference

Breakfast, refreshed: cumin, thyme, sage and other herbs and spices make all the difference to a breakfast fry-up. (Photo: Tony Jackman)

This recipe is what you get when you add a little something extra to the bacon (cumin seeds, in this instance) and perhaps a drop or two of (real) truffle oil to the butter you fry your eggs in. Again, people are looking for la difference.

Roast chicken thighs and drumsticks with gin and orange

Exotic flavour: Tony Jackman’s chicken portions roasted in an air fryer with gin and orange. June 2024. (Photo: Tony Jackman)

If you’re looking for any further recommendations, I loved, loved, loved this recipe, which I cooked in an air fryer some months ago. It did remind me of my parents somewhat, but the real reason I relished it was its saucy, delightful flavours and that crisp skin.

Baked beans on toast, specced up

High spec: Baked beans on toast, spruced up. (Photo: Tony Jackman)

So simple, so delicious. Anyone who loved their childhood baked beans on toast will adore this even more. Red onion, red pepper… and bacon, why not? You may want seconds.

Tripping on cheesy mushroom toasties

Cheesy mushrooms: Tony Jackman’s cheesy mushroom and onion toasties, photographed in the Boekehuis, Calvinia. 18 April 2024. (Photo: Tony Jackman)

Portabellini mushrooms and Langbaken Stout Willis cheese were the core of this air fryer dish, which could be a snack, breakfast, a light lunch, or served alongside a steak for supper.

Zesty roast potatoes in your air fryer

Just add zest: Citrus zest adds a delicious tanginess to your air fryer roast potatoes. (Photo: Tony Jackman)

Our people’s choice top 10 wraps up with two potato recipes. This one is all about finely grated citrus zest (as well as being about the potatoes of course)...

The best potato side dish for a juicy steak

potato side dish Two-in-one: diced potatoes and chopped onions are cooked together in an air fryer for a perfect side dish to a juicy steak. (Photo: Tony Jackman)

… whereas this one is my take on a potato and onion side dish I loved at a steakhouse we frequented in decades gone by. It’s so simple, but so moreish. Give it a go. DM

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