{Event} T-Fal ActiFry Express Launch with Fidel Gastro’s Matt Basile

What is better than fried foods? In a magical world, it would be unlimited fried foods, but without the grease and excess fat — also unicorns for everyone. A fantastical land where crispy-skinned buttermilk fried chicken with a side of crunchy and golden fries that doesn’t end with you crying into your slick-fingered and trembling from guilt hands AND doesn’t require a gallon of oil? Well Abracadabra, baby, because the T-Fal ActiFry Express is coming to Canada and all of this will soon be a reality!

I attended a launch event put on by T-Fal Canada in collaboration with the innovative Toronto chef, Matt Basile of Fidel Gastro’s and Lisa Marie. What started as a casual opportunity to network with like-minded foodies and members of the media, ended up being a fun time spent talking about the incredible machine and how it is going to shift the way we cook at home. Keep in mind, I grew up in a Pakistani and Indian household. We fry. A lot. This event just so happened to coincide with the start of Ramadan too, a time when fried goodies are made in most Muslim homes, and sent and received across the neighbourhood! If your pakoras are too soggy, everyone’s going to know about it. Thankfully, with the ActiFry Express (1 litre) and Express XL (1.5 litre), oily, gotta-use-a-napkin-to-blot-the-excess-grease favourites are achieved using a fraction of the oil (1 tbsp or less, in fact!) and with no hovering over a boiling vat of oil ruining that beautiful skin. Yes, the counter-top air/oil fryer is here and it’s super cool. Both Matt and I remarked that the sleek, black machine looks more like a motorcycle helmet than an appliance! Just look at these product images I took at the event:

How cool does it look??

The T-Fal ActiFry family of products

Chef Matt Basile from Fidel Gastro’s and Lisa Marie in Toronto. At the T-Fal Canada ActiFry Express and Express XL product launch in June 2015.

And it can do a lot more than just fry. With the My ActiFry companion app for Android and iPhone, you can get inspired by 150 different recipes that showcase the ActiFry Express’s ability to not only put together a veritable fry up, but also cook just about anything! Just look at it in action below, or in one of the myriad other demo videos on Youtube:

So who is it for? Literally anybody. You can’t cook? Perfect! Read the accompanying recipe app/book, buy the necessary ingredients, load it up and push start. Tiny apartment with no proper stove? Get an ActiFry and plug that sucker into the nearest electrical outlet. BOOM! Tasty goodness. Big family with lots of mouths to feed? Throw in a bag of chicken pieces and mixed veggies along with your fav sauce and spices…BAM, 20 mins later, dinner.

Hands down the best part of the event was the goodie bag. Inside was Chef Basile’s new cookbook, Street Food Diaries (which I later got signed by him!) and a little pamphlet letting us lucky attendees know that we have our very own ActiFry Express pre-ordered for the upcoming first round of Canadian deliveries. YAY!!!! I can’t wait to get it in the mail and start testing out my recipes and sharing the results with you all.

Take away message: get an ActiFry Express when it comes out later this year! You won’t regret it. Also stay tuned for a follow up post once I receive my very own ActiFry 😀