Meals for one

Pressure Cooker Brisket

Posted by Gary

Dear Reader,

I’ve never cooked brisket in a pressure cooker before. I’ve only ever done it in a slow cooker. 

If I can cook something in the slow cooker, why can’t I do something in the pressure cooker?

At first, I thought I might be my usual lazy self and dump the entire lump of meat into the autoclave and just let it rip. Then, I thought, since I’m in lockdown, why not be a little more creative.

So using a Japanese meat cleaver, because that’s how I roll, I cut the brisket into large bite-sized (if you’re greyhound) chunks and roll the beef in flour and then ‘brown’ the floured meat off.

To keep it authentically unhealthy, I used beef dripping in the skillet to brown the floured brisket.

During the next week, I will eat the leftover chunks of brisket for lockdown dinners.

Pressure cooker brisket with potato, pumpkin, and cauliflower.

Ingredients

  • Beef brisket (1 kilogram)
  • Flour
  • Beef dripping
  • Red wine (1 cup)
  • Beef stock (1 cup)
  • Potato (1)
  • Brown onion (1)
  • Barbecue sauce (½ cup)
  • Worcestershire sauce (¼ cup)
  • Pumpkin
  • Cauliflower

Instructions

  1. Sharpen the meat cleaver and think about Proverbs 27:17 (Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another). A sharp knife is a beautiful thing.
  2. Slice the brisket and dice the meat into large chunks.
  3. Put some flour into a bowl and coat the pieces of beef one at a time.
  4. Place the floured meat into a tray.
  5. Heat a skillet and add some beef dripping until it’s hot.
  6. Add the floured chunks of meat and brown the surfaces. Be careful not to overcrowd the skillet. You want the surface of the meat to fry and not steam.
  7. In the pressure cooker, add the beef, brown onion, spud, and all the flavouring ingredients from the list apart from the pumpkin and cauliflower. 
  8. Seal the pressure cooker and cook for 45 minutes.
  9. Rub some oil over the pumpkin and cauliflower and put them into a hot oven until you can penetrate each of them with a sharp paring knife and not feel any resistance.
  10. After the pressure cooker finishes, allow the pressure to equalise and open the lid.
  11. Remove the meat and place all of it into a container apart from a few chunks for dinner.
  12. Serve the brisket with cauliflower, pumpkin, and spud.
  13. Give thanks to the Lord and enjoy the meal while listening to a sermon podcast from a good preacher.

Final thoughts

The brisket tasted pretty good. It had a good mouthfeel and flavour. Cooking the meat in a pressure cooker was pretty easy. I think setting and forgetting in a slow cooker would be just as good.

What’s happened this week?

The biggest news is that Canberra went into COVID-19 lockdown. We have cases linked with the outbreak in Sydney, which has now spread across many regions in New South Wales.

The saddest news was reading about the death of my favourite teacher at school. If you have Facebook, you can read what I wrote here. I am pretty sad about the death of Mr Stephenson; he was a fantastic teacher. Good teachers are what we need for our young people.

If you want to connect with me on Facebook, feel free to send me a friend request. 

The best things this week included dinner with friends from church and reconnecting with an old friend. 

Stay safe, friends.

  • Beef brisket
  • Brisket sliced with a meat cleaver
  • Brisket sliced and cubed with a meat cleaver
  • Floured cubes of brisket
  • Beef dripping
  • Beef brisket frying in beef dripping
  • Beef brisket frying in beef dripping
  • Browned beef brisket
  • Roast Pumpkin
  • Pressure cooker brisket with potato, pumpkin, and cauliflower.
  • Pressure cooker brisket with potato, pumpkin, and cauliflower.

Beef short rib fingers and lentils with roast Tabasco flavoured pumpkin and cauliflower, smothered with gravy

Posted by Gary

Good evening dear readers.

It was a busy day with work, so I sat at my table while the slow cooker did its thing.

Coles Beef short rib fingers

Ingredients

  • Beef short rib fingers
  • Lentils
  • Beef stock
  • Red wine
  • Barbecue sauce
  • Worcestershire sauce
  • Cauliflower
  • Pumpkin
  • Tabasco sauce
  • Instant gravy

Instructions

  1. In the slow cooker, add the lentils, red wine, beef stock, a good squirt of the Worcestershire sauce, and a few good squirts of the barbecue sauce.
  2. Cook for 8 hours.
  3. Place the pumpkin and cauliflower onto a baking sheet and rub olive oil over each.
  4. Squirt Tabasco sauce over the pumpkin and cauliflower.
  5. Cook the cauliflower and pumpkin in a hot oven for 45 minutes until a sharp paring knife penetrates both vegetables with no resistance.
  6. Plate up the beef on a dinner plate, add a few spoonfuls of the lentils, and then add the pumpkin and cauliflower on the plate.
  7. Serve with instant gravy.

Final thoughts

  • How are you going?
  • What do you think I’ll do with the leftover beef and lentils?
  • Coles Beef short rib fingers
  • Pumpkin and cauliflower ready for roasting
  • Beef short rib fingers out of the slow cooker
  • Beef short rib fingers and lentils with roast Tabasco flavoured pumpkin and cauliflower. Smothered with gravy.
  • Beef short rib fingers and lentils with roast Tabasco flavoured pumpkin and cauliflower. Smothered with gravy.
  • Beef short rib fingers and lentils with roast Tabasco flavoured pumpkin and cauliflower. Smothered with gravy.
  • Beef short rib fingers and lentils with roast Tabasco flavoured pumpkin and cauliflower. Smothered with gravy.
  • Beef short rib fingers and lentils with roast Tabasco flavoured pumpkin and cauliflower. Smothered with gravy.
  • Beef short rib fingers and lentils with roast Tabasco flavoured pumpkin and cauliflower. Smothered with gravy.

Slow cooker rump roast

Posted by Gary

Dear Reader,

Slow cooker Rump Roast with vegetables and gravy. Served with lentils, baby green peas, potato, and mushrooms.

It’s a cold, cloudy day in Canberra, with a maximum forecast temperature of eight degrees Celsius today. That’s 46 °F for any reader in the USA, Liberia, and Burma.

It felt like a good day to have the slow cooker on as well as the heating.

While grocery shopping this morning, I saw a nice lump of rump which looked like it would be perfect for this week’s meal planning.

I hope wherever you are, that you are warm and comfortable.

Have a good weekend.

Gaz

Ingredients

  • Rump roast
  • Barbecue sauce
  • White onion
  • Beef stock
  • Lentils
  • Potato
  • Instant gravy
  • Baby green peas

Instructions

Slow cooker

  1. Empty a tin of lentils into the cooking vessel.
  2. Lay the rump roast on the lentils.
  3. Cut a potato in half and place it into the cooking vessel.
  4. Cut the onion in half and put it into the cooking vessel.
  5. Squirt a good glug of barbecue sauce into the cooking vessel.
  6. Add a cup of beef stock to the cooking vessel.
  7. Cook for eight hours.

Baby green peas

  • Cook the frozen peas with microwave radiation.

Instant gravy

  • Prepare as per the instructions for use on the packaging.

Plating up

  1. Divide the rump into pieces for meal planning for the week. My plans include a pasta dish, some cold slices and salad for lunches, and perhaps a noodle soup.
  2. Divide the lentils and keep some aside for dinner putting the rest into a container.
  3. Slice a small piece of beef and put it onto a warmed dinner plate.
  4. Serve a spoon of lentils and the potato onto the dinner plate.
  5. Put the baby green peas onto the dinner plate.
  6. Pour the gravy over the meat and vegetables.
  7. Give thanks to the Lord for wages earned to buy food, cook food, and eat food to nourish my body and my enjoyment.

This week’s highlights in life

  • Work has been good. I remain blessed to work with amazing people. 
  • It’s reassuring to see people in Canberra more aware of their health and safety and cognisant that the δ (delta) variant must be respected. This week, I read a paper that revealed that the viral load associated with the δ variant is about 1000 times greater than with the original virus recovered from the beginning of the pandemic. Without wanting to be morbidly crass, I’m in awe of the biology of SARS-COV-2 and the ability of this virus and the infection it causes (COVID-19) to change and adapt. I’m sure if I wasn’t in a sequestered, safe bubble, like Canberra, I’d be feeling more anxious and worried. ^
  • It’s been worrying seeing what has been happening in NSW, Victoria, and Queensland.
  • I started reading John Owen’s Overcoming Sin and Temptation. This book is a collection of three of Owen’s seminal works on the “Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers”, “Of Temptation: The Nature and Power of It”, and “The Nature, Power, Deceit, and Prevalency of Indwelling Sin”. It’s a challenging read in a couple of ways. Owen writes in an archaic style, and the subject matter penetrates deeply. 
  • I’m also reading Tim Keller’s Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God. The two works are complementary, in my opinion.
  • I received a bunch of fresh free-range eggs from a friend this week. Fresh eggs are the best!

Final thoughts

  • Have you enjoyed fresh free-range eggs? How do you like to cook them?
  • How have you been coping this week with the pandemic?
  • Are you in an area where the δ variant is circulating in your community?
  • What’s the weather like where you are at the moment? Let me know in the comments how you’re enjoying the weather (or not).

^The Bible App I use today presented me with Proverbs‬ 12:25‬. (‭ESV)‬‬

“Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad.”

  • Rump roast
  • Slow cooker Rump Roast with vegetables and gravy. Served with lentils, baby green peas, potato, and mushrooms.
  • Slow cooker Rump Roast with vegetables and gravy. Served with lentils, baby green peas, potato, and mushrooms.
  • Dobinsons Peanut paste Brownie
  • Dobinsons Peanut paste Brownie
  • Kettle Sea Salt Chips

Lux congee

Posted by Gary

Last week I concocted a congee with Italian Arborio rice and tri-colour quinoa. I used pulled chicken thigh meat and bacon as the meat.

Tonight, I have pulled beef short rib and Speck for lux congee.

Lux beef short rib finger and Speck congee made with Italian arborio rice and tri-colour quinoa. Served with cucumber and soy sauce.

Ingredients

  • Beef short rib fingers (3)
  • Diced Speck (100 g)
  • Dried anchovies (1 handful)
  • Italian arborio rice (1 cup)
  • Tri-colour quinoa (1 cup)
  • Beef stock (6 cups)
  • Soy sauce
  • Fried shallots

Instructions

  1. Wash the rice and quinoa with cold water until the water is clear and not cloudy.
  2. Put the rice and quinoa into the vessel of a slow cooker.
  3. Add in the stock.
  4. Add in the beef short rib fingers and Speck.
  5. Cook on low heat for 8 hours.
  6. Remove the cooking vessel and pull out the rib fingers. Pick the meat from the ribs, pull the muscle fibres apart, and add the beef back to the cooking vessel. Unless you leave the beef short rib fingers out for a few minutes, you’ll find the process of removing the meat unpleasant as the tips of your fingers burn from the retained heat. I recommend waiting or trying to ameliorate the problem by wearing a couple of latex gloves on each hand to dampen the transfer of heat from the meat to your nerve ending enriched fingertips.
  7. With a wooden spoon (or a metal spoon if you don’t care about scratching your cookware), mix the beef through the congee (also known as jook).
  8. Remove the congee from the cooking vessel and aliquot into containers.
  9. Serve a bowl of congee with some soy sauce and fried shallots.
  10. Given thanks to the Lord and eat with a spoon.

Final thoughts

  • How would you make congee more luxurious?
  • Do you like adding dried anchovies to give your meals a little more umami?
  • What’s been the highlight of your week?

What’s happened this week?

This past week has been great. Work has been busy and exciting. I am so very grateful for the fantastic people with who I work.

Apart from work, I’ve enjoyed reading Don Carson’s book, “Praying with Paul”. I’ve also been bingeing on YouTube videos featuring Alistair Begg. I love his mixture of humour and seriousness with a gloriously compelling Scottish accent.

William Booth. “I consider that the chief dangers which confront the coming century will be religion without the Holy ghost, Christianity without Christ, forgiveness without repentance, salvation without regeneration, politics without God, and heaven without hell.

Notes

Lux is short for luxury.

  • Coles Australian Beef Short rib fingers
  • Coles Australian Beef Short rib fingers and Primo Speck portion
  • Fried shallot and Dried anchovy fillet
  • Lux beef short rib finger and Speck congee made with Italian arborio rice and tri-colour quinoa. Served with cucumber and soy sauce.
  • Lux beef short rib finger and Speck congee made with Italian arborio rice and tri-colour quinoa. Served with cucumber and soy sauce.
  • Lux beef short rib finger and Speck congee made with Italian arborio rice and tri-colour quinoa. Served with cucumber and soy sauce.

Chicken and bacon congee

Posted by Gary

Dear Reader, 

How are you travelling with work and life at the moment?

Tomorrow, I’m presenting at a national scientific conference. My paper is on two Acts that occupy a good portion of my work time. I’m grateful to my workmates, who drafted the presentation for me.

This conference will be the first I will have attended for more than two years.

The conference is virtual because it is in Sydney, and Sydney currently has a significant outbreak of COVID-19. The NSW Government has implemented restrictions. 

I don’t mind the idea of virtual conferences. I know I will be safer, and I like the idea that I can participate and sleep in my bed and cook my food each day. It also means I can exercise the way I want. I like living without disruption. I like the routines I have developed. Pandemic life is my life.

Apart from work, I’ve been reading good books, listening to podcasts, and watching YouTube videos.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve read Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis, The Cross and the Switchblade by David Wilkerson, and David Wilkerson by Gary Wilkerson. I’ve also started the Westminster Confession of Faith.

My current favourite podcast is Gospel in Life, which drops a “show” thrice-weekly and features Timothy Keller, a reformed Presbyterian pastor and communicator from New York City.

I’ve been devouring YouTube videos from The Gospel Coalition, Crossway, and Desiring God. I’ve enjoyed the presentations by Kevin DeYoung, Sinclair Ferguson, John Piper, Jen Wilkin, Melissa Kruger, Rosaria Champagne Butterfield, R.C. Sproul, Sam Alberry, Joni Eareckson Tada, and Rebecca McLaughlin.

I’ve also been walking daily. I’m getting about 40 minutes each morning. I begin anywhere between 4 and 5 am, depending on when I feel like getting out of bed. On weekends, I also try to do the 6 km circuit of Lake Ginninderra each day. All up, I’m doing nearly 40 km each week. This gentle exercise has helped me feel better with less joint pain compared with this time last year.

Ingredients

  • Chicken thighs (2)
  • Diced bacon (100 g)
  • Italian arborio rice (1 cup)
  • Tri-colour quinoa (1 cup)
  • Chicken stock (4 cups)

Instructions

  1. Wash the rice and quinoa with cold water until the water is clear and not cloudy.
  2. Put the rice and quinoa into the vessel of a slow cooker.
  3. Add in the stock.
  4. Add in the chicken pieces and the bacon.
  5. Cook on low heat for 6 hours.
  6. Remove the cooking vessel and pull out the chicken thighs. Pick the skin and flesh from the chicken thigh bones and add the meat and skin back to the cooking vessel. Unless you leave the chicken thighs out for a few minutes, you’ll find the process of removing the skin and flesh unpleasant as the tips of your fingers burn from the retained heat in the meat. I recommend waiting or trying to ameliorate the problem by wearing a couple of latex gloves on each hand to dampen the transfer of heat from the meat to your nerve ending enriched fingertips.
  7. With a wooden spoon (or a metal spoon if you don’t care about scratching your cookware), break up the chicken flesh and mix it through the congee (also known as jook).
  8. Remove the congee from the cooking vessel and aliquot into containers.
  9. Serve a bowl of congee with some soy sauce.
  10. Given thanks to the Lord and eat with a spoon.

Final thoughts

  • Apart from work, how have you been spending your time?
  • What books have you been reading?
  • What podcasts have you been enjoying this last week?
  • What YouTube videos have you enjoyed lately?
  • Do you get much exercise?
  • Do you attend many professional conferences? How do you feel about virtual meetings?

Notes

  • I used Italian Arborio rice because I like using ingredients that aren’t typical. Mixing some Italian with my Chinese makes sense to me. It may not make sense to anyone else, but it works for me.
  • What is congee? Congee or jook is rice gruel. My Mum’s chicken jook is my favourite food.
  • Sinclair Ferguson is Scottish and has the most mellifluous speaking voice. 
  • In the 1980s, The Cross and the Switchblade was popular reading. Friends told me to read it then. I’m slow when it comes to recommended reading.
  • Chicken and bacon congee
  • Weight Chart 2019
  • Weight Chart 2020
  • Weight Chart 2021