Air Fried Broccoli, Organic Oven Fries, Black Beans

I was out and about and asked my wife to get some beans going as a simple and nutritious side dish in the Instant Pot. She picked black beans (I had her do a 0 minute cycle to be almost equivalent to soaking overnight, then I cooked for 25 minutes).

I thought I'd continue my experiments with my air fryer and have seen several recipes for air fried broccoli. I think that Kathy Hester had a recipe, but I also quickly looked and found one recipe that included boiling the broccoli first, and another that was simpler that I modified a bit and tried.

For the broccoli, I used not just the florets, but also the chopped stalk. I made a mixture of rice milk, Panko bread crumbs, garlic granules, freshly ground black pepper, and salt, and coated the broccoli, then air fried. The recipe I modified suggested 350°F for four minutes, shaking the broccoli up, then continuing for another four minutes, but I wasn't using olive oil and thought I'd try just one go at four minutes.

I tried preparing frozen French Fries again as a side dish; this time, I used Alexia organic oven fries that only has about 3g of fat per serving, which is the goal we tell our Food for Life students for each dish. The package suggests 450°F for 18 minutes; I thought I'd try 425°F for 12m but the fries were done after about 9 minutes!

Results

My family loves the results of air frying - and it's so easy with minimal cleanup! My wife liked the broccoli; I thought it was fine, but didn't taste different than a soft raw broccoli. The breading was crispy but not strongly flavorful, and didn't really stick. The fries were great! I mixed in raw tomato and shallot with the beans, and they were very good.

Ideas for the future

I should experiment with aquafaba or use Ener-G Egg Replacer to get vegetables sticky and receptive to Panko or other coatings. I bought some golden zucchini today and am thinking of air frying it tomorrow - perhaps with no breading. I'm so happy that I have an air fryer!