Tag Archives: Cook

Steak with savoy cabbage, asparagus and broccoli

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So tonight it’s more steak. Along with some savoy cabbage, asparagus and broccoli. The red stuff is cranberry jelly. I was going to make a pepper sauce with cream but I’ve been thinking about the amount of fat I eat and had second thoughts.

Click on the image for a higher resolution version.

Steak and vegetables with some cranberry jelly (Nikon D90)

I am hopeless with presentation. That said, I liked the way the steak was cooked.

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Slowly cooked lamb shoulder and cauliflower soup

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Last night after making a pot of cauliflower soup I set about preparing to cook a shoulder of lamb for my lunch this week at work. Having now seen the result I think I’m going to swap around and have left over cauliflower soup for lunch and lamb for dinner when I’m at my place this week.

Yesterday afternoon I returned to Canberra from Brisbane and immediately started shivering on leaving the aeroplane and walking on the air bridge at Canberra airport. My mind immediately went to warm comforting foods hence the need for soup and a joint of meat.

The cauliflower soup is pretty basic. I sauté some onions and bacon pieces and get the bottom of the saucepan nice and sticky. Once the onions are soft I add a splash of white wine, some diced potato and the cauliflower florettes. To this I add some chicken or vegetable stock and then enough water so that after 30 minutes of simmering it has reduced to enough to blend without being too watery. I know what you’re thinking, I’ve spent most of my career in a laboratory; I should be able to be more precise than that. Like I explain to my medical students, medicine and pathology included is like a main meal, experience is what is needed. That is different to dessert and pastries where you need precision. Once the cauliflower and potato is soft I use my trusty Bamix® to blend the contents into a smooth soup. To this I add a few generous lumps of blue cheese and some pouring cream. This gets heated through and then served with crusty toasted bread and butter (or as some tweeps have commented served with butter and some toasted crusty bread).

Cauliflower soup with bread and butter (iPhone)

For the lamb I wanted to cook it slowly without a slow cooker. I decided on a large casserole and a low oven and a cooking period of about six hours while I slept. The preparation is pretty basic with onions, celery, carrot, tomato, red wine, beef stock, bacon pieces and the lamb. In my refrigerator I also noticed some old lup cheong and I thought, why not? What I enjoyed most was getting my boning knife out and having some fun dissecting the joint of meat.

When I woke up this morning my apartment was filled with the aroma of slow roasted lamb. It was amazing.

Lamb shoulder (Nikon D90) I wanted to capture a rustic look

Lamb shoulder (Nikon D90) Vegetables have been cut

Lamb shoulder (Nikon D90) I love a bit of blunt and sharp dissection

Lamb shoulder (Nikon D90) Everything tastes better with bacon and lup cheong

Lamb shoulder (Nikon D90) You should have smelt this when I opened the lid

Lamb shoulder (Nikon D90) I could just devour the meat, it was falling off the bones

Lamb shoulder (Nikon D90) Oh look vegetables too

Tomorrow I head off to Darwin for a night. I’ll be back late Wednesday night for the second half of the second State of Origin match and I’ll be enjoying some lamb stew. Yum!

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GOA Beef curry

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Curry beef and noodles

It’s the usual routine of frying off some onion, garlic and ginger. Add some tomato and simmer. Add the curry powder. Brown diced beef. Add to the wok. Add sliced potatoes, carrots and beans. Simmer for about 30 minutes and then add some coconut cream. Prepare the noodles and serve.

This was purchased this year at the Royal Easter Show in Sydney (Nikon D90)

Simmering in my wok (Nikon D90)

Served with noodles (Nikon D90)

 

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Raan from The Cooking of India

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Tonight Bron made Raan, spiced leg of lamb. The recipe is from The Cooking of India, a Time-Life book released in 1975 which she picked up at Gorman House Markets some years ago. The recipe calls for ginger, garlic, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, cumin, turmeric, cayenne, salt, and lemon juice to be blended to a smooth purée. The lamb needs to be slashed deeply and the spice purée rubbed in. After 30 minutes a
second purée of pistachios, raisins, almonds, and yoghurt is spread over the lamb. Honey is dripped on the leg of lamb before it is covered and sealed and stored in a cool place for for 24 hours or in the refrigerator for 48 hours. Saffron is prepared by soaking in just boiled water for 15 minutes and then poured over the lamb. About a cup of just boiled water is then poured over the lamb. The whole arrangement is brought to the boil, covered tightly and then baked for 90 minutes, the heat is reduced and baked until lamb is tender and shows no resistance when pierced with the point of a sharp knife. The meat should be rested for 1 hour.

The Raan worked out really well. It was tender and juicy. We also had naan bread, dips and vegetables. After the main meal we had Bron’s sticky date pudding with ice cream, custard and butterscotch.

There are about 18 images in the slideshow. It may transition a little slowly on an iPad unless you’re connected to wifi.

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Raan recipe written out by Bron

 

Rama’s Fiji-Indian Restaurant

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Last night we ate at Rama’s Fiji-Indian Restaurant in Pearce. This is one of Canberra‘s most popular restaurants. Last night was our first taste of Rama’s Fiji-Indian cuisine.

The Inside is pretty open and they have some tables outside as well. The service was very friendly and efficient. We weren’t left waiting and were well attended.

The menu is available as a PDF at http://www.ramas.com.au/Dine%20In%20Menu.pdf or in html.

We enjoyed a mixed entrée of Vegetable Samosas, Fish Pakoras, and Bhajia. It was pretty good, especially the Samosas and the Bhajia. The Pakoras were a little over cooked.

Then we asked for a couple of dishes from the specials list, viz., Aamm Chicken (Mango Chicken) [Boneless chicken pieces cooked in fresh spices and a sweet mango sauce] and Fijian Pork Curry [Cubes of pork cooked with capsicum, onion and coriander leaves in a tangy, spicy sauce]. Both of these were delicious. They were both spicy but not painfully hot.

I want to go back and try more food there. After the meal we went and had dessert at Bron’s. She made chocolate truffles and ice cream.

Ramas Restaurant on Urbanspoon

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Another one of those days, using a distraction to help me cope

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It’s been a long couple of days at work with a few issues taking all my attention. They were sufficiently different to make focus and concentration difficult. To help me focus better, I used a technique that I learnt many years ago. Whenever I felt a bit stressed I thought of something I wanted to do and built up a picture to appreciate. I knew I had a piece of steak in the refrigerator. By the end of the day I had a meal composed and cooked in my head. The problem was I had little time. I left the office at a reasonable time however, my bag was full of work and my e-mail inbox replete with unread messages. On top of that I had a week’s worth of ironing I had to do tonight.

The best time saver in the kitchen is the pressure cooker. I’ve blogged about my pressure cooking before when I made jook (congee) and pork belly.

In my mind this morning I started with a piece of steak that I diced. In the pressure cooker I put some roughly cut onion, ginger, potato and the steak. I also added a little red curry paste and water. I cooked this for 30 minutes. In a wok I sauteed onions and ginger in olive oil. When the onion had softened I added some diced tomatoes and then the rest of the red curry paste I had. While that was simmering I added peas, beans and carrots. When the meat was finished I added it to the wok and combined everything through. I added some coconut milk and while that was coming to a simmer I prepared some noodles. I added a little lime juice and coriander as I served the curry on the bed of noodles.

These thoughts kept me sane today. The meal turned out well and I’ve now finished the ironing and completed a good portion of my homework.

My dinner tonight was a red beef curry

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My weekend in food and ‘health’

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This week at work has been fairly full on. I’ve come back from a week away in Washington and there is a lot on in the branch. We also had senate estimates this week which just adds to the longer hours. We were there to give evidence at 2250 AEDT on Wednesday night. We finished after 2300 AEDT.

The weekend has been a much sought after break. I’ve been looking forward to dinner with friends this weekend. We had dinner parties planned on both Friday and Saturday evenings. Catching up with friends is always so good. Coincidentally we were repeating a weekend from earlier in the year http://wp.me/p16Zhd-jV

On Friday evening the menu was prawns, roast beef and pavlova.

The prawns were as fresh as they could be. Only frozen once and cooked as soon as they were thawed. The main course had a number of highlights. Freshly baked bread being one thing but the star was a slow cooked standing rib roast. The prime rib was cooked for about twelve hours at 50 °C and then pan seared to give it a lovely crust. Dessert was an amazing pavlova. The picture of the pavlova speaks for itself. It was served with home made vanilla bean ice cream. It was so rich and creamy.

Fresh prawns with a seafood sauce.

Yep, it's a salad. The olives are local.

Creamy potato bake.

Fresh bread made on the day. With real butter, what can be better?

Standing rib roast. Doesn't it look amazing.

Plated up. This dinner was so well balanced.

A heart shaped pavlova. Lovely fresh fruits including blackberries picked locally.

Pavlova served with home made vanilla ice cream.

It was a great night finished with dark chocolate and more good conversation.

On Saturday night we caught up with friends for a shared dinner party. Regular readers will know that Bron has become a star with Yorkshire puddings and a request came for roast lamb and yorkies plus Bron’s sticky date pudding. The main course was all about the lamb shoulder. The lamb shoulders (about 10 kilograms of lamb) had been prepared by a butcher and split to ensure an even cooking. The lamb pieces were placed over cloves of garlic and rosemary stems. Over the lamb more garlic and rosemary were added. Aluminium foil covered the meat and then the roasting tray was placed in the oven at 230 °C for 30 minutes after which is was turned down low to between 150 and 170 ⁠°C for seven hours. The low slow cooking ensures a succulent product with meat that pulls away easily from the bones.The secret to this meal was putting the lamb in the barbecue for about half an hour. The result was a beautiful caramelisation of the meat leaving us with some crackling too. It was accompanied by smash potatoes and roasted carrot, sweet potato and parsnips.

After the main we had Bron’s sticky date pudding with butterscotch sauce, custard and vanilla ice cream.

10 kilograms of lamb shoulder in three oven trays.

This is me sampling some of the lamb. Look at that growing mountain of meat.

Smash potatoes and roasted sweet potato and parsnip.

Can you believe how much meat we went through?

Bron made enough yorkies for everyone to have two or three.

Ready to serve.

My first helping of lamb and vegetables.

My second helping of lamb.

My first helping of Bron's sticky date oudding with butterscotch sauce, custard and vanilla ice cream.

My second helping of pudding.

After dinner we had to have fruit.

Terry's chocolate orange ball.

This morning I woke up feeling awful. I had a headache, muscle pain and some joint pain. Even though room temperature was about 22 °C, I was shivering. A hot shower and a cup of tea didn’t help so I spent most of today in bed drinking water every hour and passing really concentrated urine. From time to time I could feel myself being viræmic. I still have a pounding headache but felt like I need to blog so I can say I did something today.

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Roast lamb and smashed potatoes

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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.

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New years eve dinner

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Last night we were invited to a dinner party. Good friends through work. The same friends who hosted high tea a month ago. There were six adults. Bron had been thinking of a chocolate and strawberry creation based in part on the base via Donna Hay and the rest her own creative juices.

Before the main course we were treated to some gorgeous food in terms of olives, Turkish dips and a really nice Persian Feta cheese.

The main meal was a jerk chicken with sweet corn, haloumi salad and rice. This was an incredibly tasty meal. Fortunately there was enough for me to have seconds.

Jerk chicken, sweet corn, haloumi salad and rice

This image is taken before we left Bron’s place. The icing sugar is still obvious.

Bitter chocolate and strawberry tart

I ended up having two slices.

Bitter chocolate strawberry tart

It was a great night of sharing funny stories and eating good food. A great way to spend new years eve.

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Fried chicken

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After trying chicken fried steak on Sunday evening I thought I should try frying some chicken. I tweeted this desire today and buzz_71 asked me to blog it tonight. As if I wouldn’t 😃!!!

I soaked a chicken thigh fillet in butter milk for 20 minutes. This was then egg washed and then floured. The flour also had salt, pepper, mustard, curry powder, and paprika added. I did this twice and then placed the coated chicken into the refrigerator for a few minutes while I heated some vegetable oil in my wok.

I cooked the chicken for about five minutes per side. In addition I had a couple of sweet potato discs deep fried. Along with the chicken and sweet potato I enjoyed some avocado and cabbage.

Fried chicken dinner with cabbage, sweet potato and avocado

Camera Nikon D90, Lens AF-S Zoom-Nikkor 24-85 mm f/3.5-4.5G IF-ED
4288 × 2848 3.6 MB JPEG
ISO 200, 45 mm, f/22, 1/60

Again thanks to Karen for this idea.

On an interesting note, whenever I eat paprika I have very vivid dreams. If I go to sleep in a bad mood I have night mares, if I go to sleep happy I have happy dreams or at least dreams reflecting what I’ve been doing that evening but in positive tones. On Sunday night I had watched The Big Bang Theory and that night dreamt I was debating Sheldon Cooper about my favourite subject, viz., pus associated with soft tissue infections.

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