DudeFood

Heart shaped chicken schnitzel burger with lime avocado butter

For Sunday lunch I enjoyed a chicken schnitzel burger with a lime avocado “butter”. When I say butter, I didn’t use any real butter but mainly avocado, some lime zest, lime juice and a little olive oil. 

Purchasing a heart-shaped chicken schnitzel

After a morning walk around Lake Ginninderra, I stopped off at Coles and bought a piece of chicken schnitzel, a bread roll and an avocado. I am always amused when I see the chicken schnitzel pieces in the display case of the delicatessen section. The crumbed pieces of chicken are shaped into a ‘romantic’ heart shape rather than a real heart shape. I think a real heart is so much more attractive. Especially if it’s beating. It would have been great if I could by a piece of crumbed chicken in the shape of a beating heart 😂

One of the nice things about Brazilian cuisine is their love of chicken hearts. I don’t like eating a lot of them, one or two is enough, but they make for a great addition to a barbecue lunch or dinner. 

'Heart' shaped chicken schnitzel Gary Lum
‘Heart’ shaped chicken schnitzel

Avocado preparation

I chose a just ripe avocado. I prepared the avocado by dicing it, smashing it with a fork and then adding some lime zest, lime juice and olive oil. This makes for a very tangy and smooth “butter”.

Making the chicken schnitzel burger

I cooked the chicken by pan frying one side, flipping it over and then placing the frying pan with the chicken into a hot oven for 10 minutes. Once the chicken is cooked, I let it rest for five minutes. 

The bread roll can be spread with the avocado and then the chicken laid on top. To the chicken, add some aioli and a couple of slices of pickled jalapeño pepper. 

Portion control. Chicken schnitzel with limey avocado and jalapeño peppers. #lunch #yummylummy #foodporn #yummy #delicious #instafood #nikon Gary Lum
Portion control. Chicken schnitzel with limey avocado and jalapeño peppers.
#lunch #yummylummy #foodporn #yummy #delicious #instafood #nikon

I really enjoyed this burger. If you don’t have a nearby Coles you may not be able to get a “heart”-shaped chicken schnitzel but so long as you can get some crumbed chook you’ll be okay. 

If you’re interested in something to listen to that isn’t food related please check out my new podcast, Medical Fun Facts. I hope you enjoy it. 

Portion control

So this is a cross post about portion control. I’m doing something a little personal but it’s still got a medical connection and I’ve done a Medical Fun Facts podcast about it too.

Weight gain and weight loss

2016 has been a year of steady weight gain for me. At the end of 2003 I tipped the scales at 100 kilograms. It was around Christmas of 2003 that my younger brothers started making whale noises when I was at the beach. On New Year’s Day 2004 I started modifying my way of eating, thinking and living. By the end of 2004 I had stabilised to about 77 kilograms. I did hit a trough of 75 kilograms but I could not sustain that weight.

Maintaining a ‘good’ weight

Since then my body weight has gone up and down but never above 85 kilograms. This year I stopped weighing myself and felt it was good enough to judge my progress based on how my clothes fit and what hole I was using on my belt.

The big day arrived

A couple of weeks ago I reached a psychological and physical tipping point. A pair of trousers demonstrated a dehiscence (not where you are assuming) and I was at the second last hole of my belt. It was clearly time for a change.

My ‘dramatic’ weight loss in 2004 was a result of eliminating carbohydrates (CHO) from my food and focusing on protein (mainly meat and cheese plus low GI vegetables) and what some people call healthy fats. Since the end of 2004, from time to time I restricted my CHO intake to modify my weight. I didn’t always like it though.

It’s a confining way to exist rather than live. I enjoy rice, quinoa and noodles. I like toast as a carrier for things like Vegemite and avocado. I like rolled oats and cereal for breakfast. Going without those things drives cravings for chocolate and ice cream even more (at least in my mind). It has other drawbacks too. It makes going out to dinner a little more difficult. You need to plan. I also experienced two bouts of gout.

My disclaimer

I’m also conscious, that despite, the medical disclaimer I put on YummyLummy.com there are readers who know I am a medical practitioner and who may incorrectly link the way I behave in terms of eating as some form of professional endorsement. Let me make it clear, what you see me eat in YummyLummy.com is not medical, health or nutritional advice. I do not offer nutritional advice as a professional service. I am aware that recently the Medical Board of Australia placed conditions on the registration of a medical practitioner after a complaint by a nutritionist saw the Board send a message that in this particular situation this medical practitioner did not have sufficient qualifications to provide a specific type of nutritional advice. In addition, there were concerns raised about endorsement of a related service offered by a family member.

My solution

So to resolve my problem I am embarking on a journey of portion control. If you follow me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram you may have seen the phrase “portion control” used on posts. Dear readers and listeners, I need encouragement. Please keep me honest. I need to fit into my pre-Hong Kong holiday trousers.

Portion control. Spicy baked salmon with kale coleslaw. #dinner #yummylummy #foodporn #yummy #delicious #instafood #nikon
Portion control. Spicy baked salmon with kale coleslaw #dinner #yummylummy #foodporn #yummy #delicious #instafood #nikon

Thank you

 

 

 

Grease Monkey Double Deluxe burger

Introduction to Grease Monkey

On Wednesday evening I went out to dinner with a mate from Darwin. I’ve known Drapes for a long time. He worked out of Katherine, Nhulunbuy, Tennant Creek and Alice Springs while I was the Supervising Pathologist for the Northern Territory of Australia. He was down in Canberra for a meeting.

We’d arranged to catch up and thought a burger meal would be the way to go. I did a little on-line searching and thought it would be worth trying out Grease Monkey in Braddon.

Grease Monkey

The restaurant is at 19 Lonsdale Street in Braddon and it opens from 11 am to 10 pm.

 

They have chairs, stools and tables inside and outside. Drapes and I sat on moulded stools at the front window looking out onto the sidewalk. It was good for watching people walk by. Mostly young Canberrans, the blokes with beards and women in summer wear.

The menu can be downloaded from the website and I’ve made the current one available here.

What did I eat?

If you follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram you’ll see over the last couple of days I’ve been trying to be mindful of portion size. So I limited myself. I didn’t get fried chicken, mac and cheese, jalapeño poppers or hot wings. I had just one burger and that was the Double Deluxe.

Photograph courtesy of Anthony Draper
Photograph courtesy of Anthony Draper

The Double Deluxe

This burger consists of double beef, double cheese, bacon, grease monkey sauce, grease monkey relish, onion and pickles. The bread roll was pretty good. It wasn’t sweet and it wasn’t too much. It was just right. The burger itself was nice, I’d happily do it again. The burger is also served with chips. The chips were cooked really well and nicely salted but they come with extra seasoning. So now I’m going to sound like a food wanker but I reckon on their own the chips would be awesome, but coupled with a nice burger, they’re too much. There is too much competing flavour.

Sorry about the backlighting on this photograph
Sorry about the backlighting on this photograph

What else?

Check out the comment from Kate on Instagram. You need to click on the image and it will open the page in Instagram and you can scroll down to see Kate’s comment. Kate is a friend who avoids animal flesh, so I’m guessing the mushroom burger is really good. 


Next time I’ll try the mushroom burger.

Final words

For $20 the Double Deluxe is not cheap. Is it worth $20? Not really. You can make a similar burger for less. What about the experience? It’s a good experience and I reckon Canberrans should check out Grease Monkey and have a burger or two. I’ll go back but it’s not a place I’d go to regularly.

 

Quick tip for cooking chicken pieces

 

 

It can be a bit boring cooking just one piece of chicken for your meal for one.

I often cook my chook on something, like some quinoa rice, or pearl barley couscous or even some ramen noodles.

Roasting these starchy carbs under the piece of chicken has two benefits. The juices from the chicken infuse into whatever it sits on and the roasting ensures the rice or couscous or noodles come out crunchy for some added mouthfeel.

So I’ve taken up another hobby! Podcasting. A friend at work likes to hear medical fun facts and I thought I could put them together and made a podcast about them. 

Would you like to hear some Medical Fun Facts? Check out the link https://drgarylum.com/blog/ 

Roast sesame Chicken Maryland with avocado and potato chips #dinner #yummylummy #foodporn #yummy #delicious #instafood #nikon Gary Lum
Roast sesame Chicken Maryland with avocado and potato chips
#dinner #yummylummy #foodporn #yummy #delicious #instafood #nikon

How do I cook duck fat roast potatoes?

In general, this is how to prepare duck fat spuds

  • Preheat the oven to 200 °C.
  • Place cut potatoes in a saucepan of cold salted water and bring to the boil.
  • Reduce heat to medium and cook for 5 minutes or until par-boiled.
  • Drain, then return to the pan and shake well over medium heat to dry out and rough up the edges (this will help them crisp up when roasting).
  • Place the duck fat in a roasting pan, then place in the oven for 5 minutes to heat.
  • Remove from the oven, carefully add potato to duck fat and gently toss to coat.
  • Return to the oven and roast, turning twice, for 45 minutes or until golden and crisp.
  • Sprinkle with salt and serve.

For my dinner, I added some red onion which went very crispy like chips. I also cooked them in chilli flakes, mixed dried herbs, salt and pepper.

I served my roast spuds and onion chips on a bed of pearl barley couscous.

 
Duck fat roast potatoes