Corned beef

The pie you make when the shepherd comes home to the cottage and has a party.

Posted by Gary

Dear reader,

Last week I cooked a rolled lamb shoulder and still have some of it left in the refrigerator. I thought I’d make a shepherds pie with a difference. It’s traditional to use lamb in a shepherds pie and beef in a cottage pie. 

I have no idea what to call this pie apart from lamb and beef pie topped with mashed potato. 

I hope the title of this post gives you an idea of what was going through my mind.

The reference to a party reflects all the peppercorns I cooked with the lamb last week. I love the way peppercorns create a party in my mouth when I add them to a dish.

I find the almost numbing feeling of the mucosa of my buccal cavity and the soft sensitive epithelium of my lips exciting. Yes, I know I’m a bit of an oddball.

Now you could be asking yourself, it’s November, and I live in Australia, why am I cooking pie when I should be making a salad!

Check out the Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology for what’s going on http://www.bom.gov.au/.

Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology Bureau National Operations Centre 

Satellite Notes for 0000UTC Chart Issued at 1433 AEDT Saturday on 13 November 2021

A complex low system is present just off the southeast of the continent. The low-level to middle-level cloud band associated with this system is visible over NSW, Vic and Tas.

A trough extends parallel to the eastern coast of Qld. Thunderstorms also, for northern tropics.

The remainder of the continent is primarily cloud-free, aside from low-level clouds from onshore flow over much of the continent’s southern coast. 

Lamb and corned beef potato mash pie

Ingredients

  • Leftover pressure cooker lamb and peppercorns
  • Tin of corned beef
  • Celery
  • Carrot
  • Onion
  • Worcestershire sauce
  • Flour
  • Cooking sherry
  • Instant mashed potato
  • Grated cheese

Instructions

  1. Lovingly sharpen your cook’s knife (as iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend Proverbs 27:17 NLT).
  2. Cut the lamb into small pieces. 
  3. Place the meat into a bowl with some flour and coat the lamb with the white stuff.
  4. Dice the celery, carrot, and onion and set aside.
  5. Warm a skillet and add some cooking oil.
  6. Put the floured meat and peppercorns into the skillet and gently cook to brown it off.
  7. Add in the contents of the tin of corned beef.
  8. Mix everything through until it’s evenly mixed.
  9. Add in the carrot, onion, and celery and allow it all to simmer until the vegetables have cooked through.
  10. Add a splash of cooking sherry and a good slug of Worcestershire sauce.
  11. Evaporate the liquid by simmering everything.
  12. Allow everything to cool in the skillet.
  13. Add a portion to a pie dish and put the rest in another container for another time.
  14. Make the instant potato mash according to the manufacturer’s instructions for use.
  15. Mix some grated cheese into the potato mash and lay it across the top of the pie contents.
  16. Put the pie into a moderate oven and cook until the surface of the potato mash has started to change colour to brown.
  17. Serve the pie however you like and with whatever you like.
  18. Before you eat, though, take the time to give thanks to the Lord and thank Him for his grace.

Thoughts on shepherding

Well, not really about shepherding as much as the inspiration for thinking of shepherds comes from Thursday’s verse of the day in the bible app I use. It was Psalm 23:4. If you want to read some background check out Matthew Henry.

Final thoughts

  • Would you mix your meats in a pie?
  • Do you like lots of peppercorns in your mouth?
  • How do you feel about instant potato mash?
The pie you make when the shepherd comes home to the cottage and has a party

Tinned corned beef with lentils and vegetables

Posted by Gary

Dear Reader,

Canberra has entered its second week of lockdown, and I have mixed feelings about lockdown life.

On the one hand, lockdown life has not been too difficult because I’ve kept my routines. On the other hand, I do miss seeing work friends in real life. I have missed attending our church bible study as well as attending church itself. 

My routines include my morning walk, morning devotion time, making coffee, cooking breakfast, lunch, dinner, and evening devotion time.

Last Sunday, I attended my first Sunday morning church service by Zoom. It was good. While online church service isn’t the same as being with others, it is COVID-19 safe. It was a bit weird singing, praying, and listening to a sermon online.

Saturday lockdown dinner. Corned beef, lentils, slow cooker vegetables, with Brussels sprouts, and roast pumpkin.

Ingredients

  • Corned beef
  • Lentils
  • Shallot
  • Red onion
  • White onion
  • Yellow capsicum
  • Red capsicum
  • Mushrooms
  • Red wine
  • Cooking sherry
  • Worcestershire sauce
  • Olive oil

Instructions

  1. Slice the shallot, onions, and capsicum and put them into a slow cooker with the mushrooms.
  2. Add a few good slugs of olive oil, Worcestershire sauce, red wine, and cooking sherry.
  3. Cook slowly for six hours.
  4. Remove the vegetables from the slow cooker and put them into a skillet, and add a can of washed lentils.
  5. Cook and combine everything thoroughly.
  6. Remove about two-thirds of the vegetables and lentils and put them into a container for use later in the week.
  7. Add a small tin of corned beef to the skillet and cook with the vegetables and lentils.
  8. Cook until the corned meat starts to caramelise.
  9. Serve with vegetables of your choosing.
  10. Give thanks to the Lord for the job to be able to buy food, the skills to prepare and cook food, ask that He nourish my body and mind, and make me a better disciple.

Final thoughts

  • Have you experienced lockdown?
  • How did you find the experience?
  • Do you have any tips?
  • Capsicums, onions, and mushrooms.
  • Saturday lockdown dinner. Corned beef, lentils, slow cooker vegetables, with Brussels sprouts, and roast pumpkin.

Corned beef and red cabbage

Posted by Gary

Wow, it feels like weeks since I’ve written here. I’ve written in other blogs but because I’ve been doing some very long hours, it’s not been easy to plan and cook and write.

Corned beef and red cabbage

Red cabbage

Tonight I went with another almost ‘prepper‘ type meal but it was inspired by a conversation I had with a friend. Conversation with a friend you question? Aren’t we all meant to be social distancing? Well, as I’ve written elsewhere, I prefer the term “physical distancing” so I can remain socially active.

Continue reading →

ANZAC day slow cooker beef and potatoes

Posted by Gary

Slow cooker beef and potatoes with corn, carrots, cauliflower, peas, beetroot, celery, and mushrooms
Slow cooker beef and potatoes with corn, carrots, cauliflower, peas, beetroot, celery, and mushrooms

How can I make ANZAC day slow cooker beef and potatoes something special? I added some tinned corned beef knowing that lots of people who survived WW2 had to eat a lot of tinned meat to supplement their meals when fresh meat wasn’t as plentiful.

For Australians and people from New Zealand, ANZAC day is very special. I didn’t get to a dawn service but I was awake at 4 am, turned on the radio and listened to the dawn service commemoration which was happening in Sydney. ANZAC day is a public holiday in Australia and New Zealand so all the shops are closed until at least the early afternoon. I didn’t have anything special planned so I went for a walk around Lake Ginninderra and then spent much of the day doing stuff around the apartment.

My Dad was a tween/teenager in Fiji during WW2. The Japanese Imperial Army were in the Pacific and Dad remembers what it was like living on a Pacific Island Country (PIC) during war time. He said a lasting memory is eating a lot of tinned meat, especially tinned corned beef and spam.

[easy2mapimg id=15]

ANZAC day slow cooker beef and potatoes
Recipe Type: Dinner
Cuisine: Australian
Author: [url href=”http://garylum.me” target=”_blank” rel=”nofollow”]Gary Lum[/url]
Ingredients
  • Casserole chuck beef steak
  • Tinned corned beef
  • Potatoes
  • Onions
  • Beetroot
  • Carrots
  • Mushrooms
  • Celery
  • Corn
Instructions
  1. Dice everything
  2. Flour the beef
  3. Sautée the floured beef and then the onions and then the mushrooms and celery
  4. Put everything into the slow cooker and set for 6 hours
  5. At the end of cooking plate up and shoot a photograph
  6. Vacuum pack the leftovers
  7. Eat the meal
  8. Wash the dishes
  9. Write the recipe
  10. Blog (verb)

Here are some of the preparation photographs

This is a tiled gallery of the preparation photographs. If you click on one a slideshow gallery pops up and you can scroll through higher resolution versions.

Tinned corned beef and spam
Casserole chuck beef and corn
Celery and onion
Potatoes and mushrooms
Carrot and beetroot
Floured beef pieces
Tinned corned beef
Tinned corned beef, celery and onions
Slow cooker beef and potatoes with corn, carrots, cauliflower, peas, beetroot, celery, and mushrooms

This is my lunch from today

Smoked salmon with dill, capers, cream cheese, chives and avocado
Smoked salmon with dill, capers, cream cheese, chives and avocado

I hope you spent some time today thinking of those who fell for us, who went to war, who supported those in war and those who suffered in war.

Monday link love from the Canberra Food Bloggers’ Facebook group

My slow cooker is certainly getting a work out at the moment. Last night I had a really nice slow cooker pork congee.

Have you made slow cooker beef?

Three image banner site image
Three image banner site image

Corned beef congee

Posted by Gary

Hamper corned beef
Hamper corned beef

Corned beef congee
Corned beef congee

Corned beef congee
Recipe Type: Dinner
Cuisine: Australian
Author: [url href=”http://garylum.me” target=”_blank” rel=”nofollow”]Gary Lum[/url]
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 1
A simple pressure cooker congee
Ingredients
  • [cap id=”attachment_16100″ align=”aligncenter” width=”980″][img src=”https://yummylummy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/2016-04-09_16.41.23_001_GARY_LUM-1200×800.jpg” width=”980″ height=”653″ class=” size-large” title=”Hamper corned beef” alt=”Hamper corned beef”]Hamper corned beef[/cap]
  • [cap id=”attachment_16100″ align=”aligncenter” width=”980″][img src=”https://yummylummy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/2016-04-09_16.03.49_001_GARY_LUM-1200×801.jpg” width=”980″ height=”654″ class=” size-large” title=”Arborio rice with red and white quinoa” alt=”Arborio rice with red and white quinoa”]Arborio rice with red and white quinoa[/cap]
  • Red quinoa ⅛ cup
  • White quinoa ⅛ cup
  • Beef stock 1 litre
  • White wine 1 cup
  • Water 1.5 litres
  • Butter 100 g
  • Chives chopped
  • Bundaberg Ginger marmalade
Instructions
  1. Place the rice and liquid into the pressure cooker.
  2. Start the pressure cooker and time for 60 minutes.
  3. Once cooking time is complete open the valve to release all the steam before opening the lid.
  4. The congee should be creamy and smooth. If there is too much liquid or if the rice has not broken down enough simmer until the correct consistency is reached.
  5. If it is too dry add a little stock or water until the correct consistency is achieved.
  6. Add the butter and season with salt and white pepper.
  7. Serve with garnishes.
  8. Plate up.
  9. Shoot a photograph.
  10. Eat the congee.
  11. Wash the dishes.
  12. Write the recipe.
  13. Blog (verb).

Hamper corned beef

Arborio rice with red and white quinoa
Arborio rice with red and white quinoa

Breville Pressure Cooker
Breville Pressure Cooker

So how did my corned beef congee taste?

It tasted great. I have a couple of containers left for leftovers during the week. The containers are now in my freezer solidifying.