Tag Archives: Butter

Grand final footy food


This week has seen a good few days in food but tonight was the NRL grand final. It required something special. Something inspired. In terms of inspiring meals, we’ve already seen this week how Bron was inspired by David Lebovitz. I took my inspiration from Bron’s inspiration.

I wanted to make a sandwich that required both hands to hold. I also wanted to use a bread that wasn’t as crusty but not too soft. I wanted cheese too. But what to put inside. I had a mystery meal in the freezer. I knew it was a curry of some sort. I wouldn’t know until I thawed it out.

The ingredients for tonight’s Grand Final sandwich included Mozzarella cheese, Butter, Bread roll, and Mystery meat.

When I thawed the curry it looked like belly pork. I was winning already.

Before I get to the sandwich, the good news is the Melbourne Storm defeated the Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs Rugby League Club. The final score was 14:4 and the triumvirate of amazing Queenslanders Cronk, Smith and Slater played superb games this evening. It was disappointing that the Brisbane Broncos and the North Queensland Cowboys didn’t advance further this year. Such is life.

Now to the sandwich. I thawed the curry pork for a couple of minutes in the microwave oven. The roll was sliced to produce a butterflied length of bread. I smeared some butter on both sides and then cut the cheese lol. I warmed the roll for about 20 seconds in the microwave oven too. After laying on the meat I laid over it the sliced mozzarella cheese. I then grilled it until the cheese went a little brown. It felt good holding a sandwich that needed both hands to hold.

Mozzarella cheese for laying on the meat.

This is the bread I chose from Coles at Jamison.

It was a nice loaf.

Sliced open and laid flat.

Pork belly curry for the filling.

Meat laid on a buttered bread roll.

Laying on the sliced Mozzarella cheese.

After being under the grill.

Closed roll.

A close up :-)

So how did it taste? It was great. The curry and cheese worked well. The soft bread roll made all the difference. It was great holding a big sandwich in both hands and watching the footy. It was so big though I needed my own half time break to finish eating it. There was a degree of scepticism about this sandwich on Twitter. I can understand why it seems like an odd combination. In my mouth and on my taste buds this combination worked and worked well.

I hope all the Storm supporters are happy, and I hope the Bulldog supporters can be happy knowing they were the minor premiers this year and know on the night the better team won.

All the images captured with a Nikon D90 except the last one posted to Instagram with my iPhone 4

Scotch fillet steak with onion, sweet potato, peas and corn


On returning yesterday I did a little grocery shopping and bought a couple of steaks for tonight and tomorrow night. I’ll often do this, make the same dish twice and see how I can make the second night better. Sometimes I’m so impatient on the second night I just cook the meat :-)

Tonight I shaved some sweet potato put it into a shallow tray with some grated cheese and softened in an oven. I caramelised the onion and at the end added some frozen peas and corn. The steak touched a hot pan for a minute and then was turned and the heat turned off.

Fillet steak (Nikon D90)

 

Fillet steak (Nikon D90)

Yes, I know there was some butter leaching through the bottom. I cook with butter.

 

Hot Cross Buns


It seems wrong that soon after Christmas supermarkets in Australia start to stock and sell Hot Cross Buns on their shelves. I always thought of them as special and specifically for Good Friday. I’ve resisted the temptation to buy and eat them whenever, mostly because I don’t need the added carbohydrate load.

They are best (in my humble opinion) served warm from an oven and with real butter. Margarine just doesn’t seem to be right.

Bron had two different sorts. Both were nice. As you can see I had buns with my butter :-)

I like real butter at room temperature

Two types of Hot Cross Buns

Would you like bun with that butter?

Roast lamb and smashed potatoes


Some time ago I had the best roast lamb at a friend’s house. It was an awesome dinner party. This week I’ve eaten a good share of lamb (Australia Day dinner. Yes it’s lamb again. and Lamb cutlets with mint sauce and radish salad) and just feel the need for more. I didn’t feel the need to buy a shoulder, rather Coles had cheap lamb bones on sale which I thought would be good enough since they were ribs. Intercostal muscle is always tasty although it can be tough, so it needs long slow cooking.

Following my friend’s advice I laid down a bed of garlic and rosemary and overlaid that with lamb. On top I put in more garlic and rosemary and then covered snugly with aluminium foil. I placed the tray in a hot oven 240 °C for 30 minutes and then turned it down to 150 °C for a few hours. When it was ready I pulled the tray out and allowed the meat to cool enough for me to pick the meat from the bones and then put on my dinner plate.

These were cheap as at Coles.

There was lots of garlic. I pity friends who sit near me tomorrow.

The smashed potatoes were made by boiling a few spuds until just tender, allowing them to cool, ‘smashing’ them with your hand and then covering with salt, pepper, herbs and butter.

After boiling and smashing, in the tray.

The spuds should be boiled to just soft enough to smash with the heel of your hand.

Cover with salt, pepper and your herbs of choice. I chose oregano.

The potatoes need to be seasoned well.

Butter is also important.

As I’ve said before butter (like bacon) makes everything taste better.

The bones came out with the meat soft enough to pull away.

It is always a feeling of accomplishment when meat is cooked the way you like.

Plated up lamb and potatoes.

I should have made some gravy, but in truth it wasn’t necessary.

Poh does a nice rendition of this which can be found at the ABC website.

For alternative guidance on smashed potatoes here’s a youtube video to assist.

The images were captured with Lumix point and shoot AVCHD Lite.