Udon noodles

Lamb shanks and laksa noodles

Dear Reader,

Hi there friends. I hope you’re well. Well, what a week it’s been. 

My week has been humming, with some challenges. Work, as usual, is busy, the pandemic continues to keep me, and my workmates occupied.

I’ve seen my general practitioner a couple of times in the last week. It had been more than a year since my last check-up. 

It turns out that despite losing some weight and exercising more, my blood chemistry suggests I need to make some changes to my diet. I’d be better off if I minimised mammal and bird fat, as well as having less cream and butter in my life.

For tonight’s meal, however, I’ve been inspired by a dear friend who has been enjoying lamb shanks. It’s been an age since I cooked lamb shanks. 

As I was shopping today, I thought of lamb shanks and pumpkin mash! However, as I walked down the Asian food aisle, I spied all the noodles. 

Ingredients

  • Lamb shanks
  • Laksa paste
  • Udon noodles
  • Coriander
  • Red onion
  • Fennel
  • Spring onion

Instructions

  1. Place the lamb shanks into the pressure cooker.
  2. Cover the meat with some water and add a tablespoon of the laksa paste.
  3. Cook the lamb for one hour.
  4. When the lamb is ready, remove the bone that will likely slide out of its meat sheath and place it all into a bowl.
  5. Drain the liquor from the pressure cooker into a saucepan and bring it to a simmer.
  6. Add in the noodles and simmer until the noodles are ready.
  7. Chop the coriander, and slice the spring onion, fennel, and red onion.
  8. Drain the noodles and mix through the coriander, spring onion, red onion, and fennel.
  9. Transfer the noodles to a shallow bowl and place the lamb meat on top.
  10. Spoon some of the meat juices over the lamb and noodles.
  11. Give thanks to the Lord for the food and for friends.

How was the meal?

Okay, I confess, this is a peculiar combination of ingredients. I wrote in a file note at work yesterday an opinion on a form of words. I acknowledged I’m a peculiar person with strong views. A workmate thought it was hilarious and agreed that I am peculiar.

The meat was tender, fall off the bone tender. 

I’m not quite sure lamb shank and noodles would sell in a restaurant. That said, it was a tasty meal, and if you try it, let me know what you think.

Final thoughts

  1. Have you ever had lamb with noodles and laksa flavours?
  2. Do you think lamb is suited to Asian cuisine?
  3. Do you like lamb shanks?
  4. How has your week been?

Feel free to leave a comment and tell me what you think.

Garlic Udon noodles, coconut cream, pork belly, prawns, and choy sum

Tonight I cooked garlic Udon noodles, coconut cream, pork belly, prawns, and choy sum for dinner.

During the week, Lorraine from Not Quite Nigella posted a recipe for quick garlic prawns and spaghetti recipe, and it got me thinking that garlic prawns would be nice on the weekend.

In my refrigerator, I also had some strips of pork belly, which needed eating too, so I combined everything into a meal for Saturday night. 

Garlic Udon noodles, coconut cream, pork belly, prawns, and choy sum

Ingredients

  • Udon noodles
  • Coconut cream
  • Garlic
  • Choy sum
  • Pork belly
  • Fresh prawns

Instructions

  • Dry the skin of the pork belly strips and place into a hot (200 °C) oven for 45 minutes to get the crackling crispy.
  • Cook the Udon noodles in boiling water for about 7 minutes and then with 2 minutes to go, toss in the choy sum.
  • Rinse the noodles and choy sum in cold water and drain.
  • Heat a skillet with the leftover fat from the pork belly and sautée the garlic gently.
  • Add the noodles and choy sum.
  • Pour in some coconut cream and bring it to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer.
  • Add in the prawns and cook through.
  • Cut the pork belly into small pieces and add to the skillet.
  • Transfer everything to a bowl and eat with chopsticks.

The meal was delicious. The question is, is this Asian or Italian?

Garlic Udon noodles
Garlic Udon noodles, coconut cream, pork belly, prawns, and choy sum

I have no idea anymore what sort of food I cook. I take what I have bought and put it together into a meal I think will work. More often than not, the meal tastes okay. I don’t know that anyone else would like to eat it, but it keeps me going, and it keeps my imagination ticking over. In my mind, that’s the important thing. 

Over many years of living alone, I’ve worked out what I like and what I don’t like. The trick is keeping the things I want in a list that also aligns with keeping in good health.

Garlic Udon noodles, coconut cream, pork belly, prawns, and choy sum

The trick mentioned above is not a unique problem. I know other people struggle with it. It’s one of the advantages of the Internet and various cooking forums that we can get ideas from people from all over the world.

I’m not sure cooking with coconut cream is necessarily healthful though. It’s certainly delicious. 

I did buy some spaghetti instead of Udon noodles this week so that I can transition from Asian pasta to Italian pasta. 😉

Spaghetti

How to make crab with udon noodles

How to make crab with udon noodles? Indeed, by the time this is published I’ll be interstate attending a meeting for work. In anticipation I didn’t purchase any meat on Saturday and I needed to empty my refrigerator. I just threw together some stuff I had. Fortunately the shelf of shame had a tin of crab meat and some udon noodles. With a little pouring cream and Coon cheese a creamy cheesy dinner was guaranteed. In many ways this crab with udon noodles is a great comfort food dish.

How to make crab with udon noodles
Recipe Type: Dinner
Cuisine: Australian
Author: [url href=”http://garylum.me” target=”_blank”]Gary Lum[/url]
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 1
Ingredients
  • Udon noodles
  • Tinned crab
  • Pouring cream
  • Coon cheese
  • Parsley
  • Spring onion
  • Avocado
  • Nuts
  • Butter
Instructions
  1. Cook the udon noodles for 8 minutes in boiling water
  2. Drain the noodles
  3. Add the butter
  4. Add a tin of crab meat
  5. Add the cheese
  6. Return to the heat and pour in some cream
  7. Once the liquid has reduced add everything else and then plate up
  8. Shoot a photograph
  9. Eat the meal
  10. Write the recipe
  11. Blog (verb)

So the crab with udon noodles tasted pretty good in it’s creamy cheesy sauce.

Photograph of Ingredients for crab with udon noodles
Ingredients for crab with udon noodles

Photograph of Crab with udon noodles
Crab with udon noodles


Monday link love

Last week I did a dedicated Monday Link Love post which resulted in a lovely shout out from Jennifer of Little Monster Girl.

Here are some links from today’s round of sharing by Canberra Food Bloggers in our Facebook Canberra Food Bloggers Group.

I’m a monster

What’s being a monster got to do with a food blog?

Well nothing really but I thought it would act as a little click bait.

It’s been warm in Canberra today. Apparently it got as warm as 36.4 °C but the humidity only reached about 20%. I tweeted my desire for a more muggy day.

 


There were some responses 

 

 

Anyway, this is a food blog so here are some photographs of food I ate today.

Smoked salmon with vegemite and wasabi sesame seeds
Smoked salmon with vegemite and wasabi sesame seeds

Prawns and udon noodles with coconut milk
Prawns and udon noodles with coconut milk with a Little Monster Girl looking on

 

Do you think I’m a monster?

Baked salmon, pickled coleslaw and avocado

This is a photograph of Baked salmon with pickled coleslaw and avocado
Baked salmon with pickled coleslaw and avocado

It was a long day today. I didn’t have much time during my breaks to think about what to make for dinner. I had some pickled coleslaw in the refrigerator as well as some salmon. The question for me was what to have with it. Last week I had baked salmon with pickled coleslaw and potato scallops, so tonight I replaced the potato scallops with an avocado. A much healthier option 

Baked salmon, pickled coleslaw and avocado
Recipe Type: Dinner
Cuisine: Australian
Author: [url href=”http://about.me/garydlum” target=”_blank” rel=”nofollow”]Gary Lum[/url]
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 1
Ingredients
  • 1 fillet of Tasmanian Atlantic salmon
  • Beetroot coleslaw from [url href=”http://coles.com.au” target=”_blank” rel=”nofollow”]Coles[/url] ½ cup
  • Lemon zest from 2 lemons
  • Juice from 2 lemons
  • 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon brown sugar
  • 1 avocado sliced
  • Wasabi sesame seeds
Instructions
  1. In the morning take the coleslaw, lemon zest, lemon juice, red wine vinegar, salt and sugar and mix together and store in the refrigerator in a airtight container
  2. In the evening after a day at work
  3. [url href=”http://bit.ly/perfectlybakedsalmon” target=”_blank” rel=”nofollow”]Bake the salmon[/url]
  4. Allow the salmon to rest for five minutes and plate up with the sliced avocado and pickled coleslaw
  5. Shoot a photograph
  6. Record a [url undefined]time-lapse video[/url] while eating the meal
  7. Wash the dishes
  8. Write the recipe
  9. Blog (verb)

Salmon with pickled coleslaw and avocado from Gary Lum on Vimeo.

Baked salmon with pickled coleslaw and avocado


I ate well today. For lunch I enjoyed some leftover prawns, udon noodles, kale and quinoa. It looks bad but tastes great.

This is a photograph of my leftover Prawns and udon noodles with kale and quinoa
Prawns and udon noodles with kale and quinoa


Now it’s time for a little Monday link love. On Mondays the Canberra Food Bloggers Facebook group share posts from the previous week. Here is a selection from today’s link sharing.