Sticky aubergine noodles
Serves 1 / Hands on: 7 minutes / Cook: 20 minutes
• 1-drawer air fryer
• 1 aubergine (250g)
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 pak choi
• 1 tbsp unsalted roasted peanuts
• 1 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
• 150g straight-to-wok thick udon noodles
• 4 spring onions
• ½ a fresh red chilli
• ½ a little gem lettuce
• 2 sprigs of mint or coriander
• 1 tbsp crunchy peanut & sesame chilli oil (or add 1 tsp of peanut butter and a dash of sesame oil to 2 tsp of chilli oil)
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Slice the aubergine lengthways 1cm thick, then across into 1cm-wide strips. Remove the air-fryer shelf, scatter the aubergine into the drawer and cook for 15 minutes at 200°C, shaking halfway.
Peel and finely slice the garlic. Quarter the pak choi lengthways. When the time’s up, pull out the drawer, scatter in the garlic and peanuts, spoon over the sweet chilli sauce, then shake to coat. Add the pak choi alongside and cook for 5 minutes at 200°C, or until the aubergine is soft and sticky.
In a bowl, cover the noodles with boiling water to soften them, and leave aside. Trim the spring onions and finely slice with the chilli. Click apart the lettuce leaves. Pick the herb leaves.
Drain the noodles and add to the drawer with most of the chilli and spring onions, the chilli oil and balsamic. Toss together well, season to perfection, then tip into a serving bowl. Add the lettuce leaves on the side, scatter over the remaining chilli and spring onions, along with the herb leaves, then serve.
Herby cheese soda bread
Serves 8–10 / Hands on: 16 minutes / Cook: 30 minutes
• 1-drawer air fryer
• 250g plain wholemeal flour
• 200g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
• 50g porridge oats, plus extra for sprinkling
• 1 heaped tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 4 sprigs of rosemary
• 1 large free-range egg
• 300g buttermilk or natural yoghurt
• 100g Red Leicester or Cheddar cheese
• olive oil
In a large bowl, mix together both flours, the oats, bicarb and 1 level teaspoon of sea salt. Pick and finely chop the rosemary leaves and stir most of them into the mixture, reserving the remainder.
Make a well in the middle, crack in the egg and add the buttermilk, then mix thoroughly with a fork. Gradually bring in the flour from the outside, then use your clean, lightly-floured hands to pat and bring the dough together.
Chop the cheese into chunks, mix in, then shape the dough into a ball, using your clean oiled hands to flatten it into a disc, roughly 3cm deep. Sprinkle over a few extra oats and a little sea salt, patting them onto the dough. Score a deep criss-cross pattern into the top, then carefully place in the air-fryer drawer and cook for 20 minutes at 180°C.
Rub the reserved chopped rosemary with 1 teaspoon of olive oil, sprinkle over the bread and cook for another 10 minutes at 180°C, or until a firm crust has formed and the bread sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom. Transfer to a wire cooling rack and serve warm.
Pear & blackberry crumble
Serves 6 / Hands on: 12 minutes / Cook: 50 minutes
• 1-drawer air fryer
• 4 ripe pears
• 2 eating apples
• 2 balls of stem ginger in syrup
• 300g blackberries
• 100g cold unsalted butter
• 1 large orange
• 100g porridge oats
• 60g demerara sugar
• 1 pinch of ground cinnamon
• 100g cornflakes
Cut the pears and apples into sixths, removing the core. Finely chop the stem ginger. Remove the shelf from the air fryer, then place the pears, apples, blackberries and ginger inside with a knob of the butter, the orange zest and juice, and 2 tablespoons of ginger syrup. Mix together and cook for 40 minutes at 180°C, or until fruit has softened, stirring halfway.
Meanwhile, place the oats in a bowl, cube and add the remaining butter, then rub together with your thumbs and fingertips. Add the sugar and cinnamon, scrunch in the cornflakes, and mix well.
Scatter the crumble mixture over the fruit and cook for another 10 minutes at 180°C, or until golden and bubbling, then dish up straight from the drawer. Great with custard, crème fraîche or ice cream.
An edited extract from Easy Air Fryer, by Jamie Oliver (Penguin Michael Joseph, $65) © Jamie Oliver Enterprises Ltd (2025). Photos by David Loftus.
