Meals for one

Prawn roll

Posted by Gary

Prawn roll

I had my heart set on a bug roll, that is, a Moreton Bay bug (slipper lobster) roll. I got to the seafood shop this morning, and there were no bugs, no lobsters either! There were prawns though, so I bought prawns for a prawn roll.

Prawn roll with wasabi mayonnaise, pickled jalapeño peppers, red chilli, and parsley served with a side salad of lettuce, cucumber, and cherry tomatoes.

The motivation for this was again Lorraine Elliott who is better known as Not Quite Nigella. This week, Lorraine wrote about lobster rolls. 

Ingredients

  • Prawns (cooked and peeled)
  • Mayonnaise (I used Kewpie wasabi flavoured mayonnaise)
  • Pickled jalapeño peppers (chopped)
  • Red chilli (diced)
  • Bread roll (I bought a crusty baguette)
  • Butter (Lurpak spreadable)
  • Iodised salt
  • White pepper
  • Parsley (chopped)

Instructions

  1. In a bowl add some mayonnaise, the chopped jalapeño peppers, and chopped chilli. Mix with a fork and then season with salt and pepper to taste.
  2. Fold some chopped parsley into the spicy mayonnaise.
  3. Roughly cross-section cut the prawns and fold the prawn meat to the mayonnaise.
  4. Make a midline longitudinal incision along the baguette’s ventral surface and spread the two flaps apart with your thumbs to open the incision.
  5. Spread a nudge of butter on the incision surfaces of the baguette.
  6. Spread a little butter on the outside of the baguette.
  7. Toast the lateral surfaces of the baguette in a sandwich press.
  8. If you’ve added too much butter to the incision surfaces, some melted butter will bleed from the incision. The question I have for you though is, is there such a thing as too much butter?
  9. Once the baguette’s outer lateral surfaces are toasted, remove it and gently open the incision and spoon the prawns coated in spicy mayonnaise into the baguette’s buttery incision.
  10. Serve the prawn roll with a side salad of shredded lettuce, sliced cucumber, and halved cherry tomatoes.
  • King prawns
  • King prawns
  • Chopped pickled jalapeño peppers and diced red chilli.
  • Wasabi mayonnaise
  • Wasabi mayonnaise with Pickled jalapeño peppers and Chilli
  • Wasabi mayonnaise with Pickled jalapeño peppers, Chilli, and prawns.
  • Wasabi mayonnaise with Pickled jalapeño peppers, Chilli, prawns and parsley..
  • Wasabi mayonnaise with Pickled jalapeño peppers, Chilli, prawns and parsley..
  • Baguette
  • Incised Baguette
  • Buttered Baguette
  • Buttered Baguette
  • Buttered Baguette
  • Toasted buttered baguette
  • Prawn roll with wasabi mayonnaise, pickled jalapeño peppers, red chilli, and parsley served with a side salad of lettuce, cucumber, and cherry tomatoes.
  • Prawn roll with wasabi mayonnaise, pickled jalapeño peppers, red chilli, and parsley served with a side salad of lettuce, cucumber, and cherry tomatoes.

Final thoughts

I am a little disappointed I couldn’t get a Moreton Bay bug today; however, the prawns were a reasonable substitute.

The spicy mayonnaise complemented the prawns nicely, and the warm buttery baguette provided great contrasting mouthfeel. As far as rolls go, this prawn roll was pretty good.

What would you prefer? Lobster? Bug? Prawns?

Postscript

After chopping and dicing the pickled jalapeño peppers and chilli, I had to attend the water closet.

Without going into any inappropriate detail, I will be buying disposable gloves to wear on my hands for when I chop and dice pickled jalapeño peppers and chilli. This experience took the shine off, enjoying eating the prawn roll.

Chickpea Jalapeño potato salad

Posted by Gary

Chickpea Jalapeño potato salad

Potato, Chickpeas, White onion, Chilli, Pickled jalapeño peppers, Spring onion, with wasabi mayonnaise and king prawns. I also added some Cracker Barrell maple-infused cheddar with toffee bites!

Lorraine Elliott, who is also known as Not Quite Nigella inspired this meal. This is her recipe with a few additions from me.

Ingredients

  • Potatoes
  • Kewpie wasabi mayonnaise
  • White onion
  • Pickled sliced jalapeño peppers
  • Chilli
  • Tinned chickpeas
  • Spring onion
  • Iodised salt
  • Whole black peppercorns

Instructions

  1. Boil the spuds until you can use a long sharp tool and penetrate the skin and flesh easily with no resistance.
  2. Remove the boiled spuds from the water and refrigerate overnight to permit the formation of resistant starch.
  3. Smile knowing my microbiota will be grateful (if bacteria were sentient).
  4. The next night, cut the cold boiled spuds into bite-sized pieces with a sharp knife.
  5. Put the spuds into a large mixing bowl and then squirt in some Kewpie Wasabi mayonnaise and a small handful of pickled sliced jalapeño peppers.
  6. Finely dice a white onion and add the chopped onion to the mixing bowl.
  7. Finely slice the spring onion and add the spring onion to the mixing bowl.
  8. Add in the tin of chickpeas because legumes are also useful for my microbiota.
  9. Gently mix everything to avoid disintegrating the spuds.
  10. Season with salt and pepper to taste and mix.
  11. Peel the shells from the prawns and undertake a colectomy to remove the alimentary canal.
  12. Transfer everything to a serving bowl and garnish with some peeled prawns.
  13. Grab a fork, take the bowl, sit in front of the TV, and watch a movie while enjoying the potato salad.

What movie did I watch?

I watched one of my favourite movies, viz., Chariots of Fire. I love the story of Eric Liddell and how he put God and principles before King and country.

  • Potatoes Pickled jalapeños
  • Potato, Chickpeas, White onion, Chilli, Pickled jalapeño peppers
  • Potato, Chickpeas, White onion, Chilli, Pickled jalapeño peppers, and Spring onion.
  • Potato, Chickpeas, White onion, Chilli, Pickled jalapeño peppers, and Spring onion.
  • Potato, Chickpeas, White onion, Chilli, Pickled jalapeño peppers, Spring onion, and wasabi mayonnaise
  • Potato, Chickpeas, White onion, Chilli, Pickled jalapeño peppers, Spring onion, and wasabi mayonnaise
  • King prawns
  • King prawns
  • Potato, Chickpeas, White onion, Chilli, Pickled jalapeño peppers, Spring onion, with wasabi mayonnaise and king prawns.
  • Potato, Chickpeas, White onion, Chilli, Pickled jalapeño peppers, Spring onion, with wasabi mayonnaise and king prawns.
  • Potato, Chickpeas, White onion, Chilli, Pickled jalapeño peppers, Spring onion, with wasabi mayonnaise and king prawns.

What’s all the microbiota talk?

Readers who know me know that I like listening to books. I’m not much of a reader of books, but I’ll happily listen to a book. 

I’m a fan of the Audible app and buying audible books from Amazon. To get more users, Audible has provided some free books to get people in.

One of the recent free offerings has been a 10 episode podcast by Dr Joanna McMillan. Joanna is a nutrition scientist and a practising nutritionist. Check her out at her website.

I think some people assume that we learn everything we need to know in medical school about nutrition. Given I went through medical school from 1983 to 1989 (yes that’s seven years, I did an extra degree during the course) it’s no surprise I’m a bit behind. My interest in our microbiota has been in the context of pathology and infection. It’s only recently, as I’ve endeavoured to improve my health that I’m thinking more about my microbiota.

If you’re interested in gut health, I reckon you’ll enjoy listening to Joanna. Her Scottish accent also helps!

Resistant starch

One topic that Joanna bangs on about is resistant starch. For a good synopsis of resistant starch, you cannot only listen to Joanna, but you can read about it on the CSIRO website.

You’ll see more legumes and raw oats in my Instagram feed in the future.

Potatoes and rice are useful sources of resistant starch if you cook them and then allow them to cool before eating them. That’s why I cooked the spuds yesterday and then refrigerated the potatoes.

How was the potato salad?

It was good. It certainly had a big kick to it with the jalapeño peppers, wasabi mayonnaise, and the red chilli. I split it in half and will finish it off tomorrow night. 

Chilli garlic prawns and rice

Posted by Gary

Chilli garlic prawns and rice

I did a linguine and garlic prawns a few weeks ago. Tonight, I thought I’d do something with an Asian bent.

Stir-fried Garlic, Ginger, Chilli, and Prawns with white rice.

Ingredients

  • Raw prawns (large banana prawns)
  • Tomato sauce
  • Soy sauce
  • Sweet chilli sauce
  • Garlic (sliced with a mandolin)
  • Ginger (grated)
  • Chilli flakes
  • Chilli (cut in strips)
  • Spring onion
  • White onion
  • Whole black peppercorns (freshly ground)
  • Rice
  • Broccoli florets

Instructions

  1. Marinate the raw prawns (with the shell on) in a bowl of tomato sauce, sweet chilli sauce, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, and chilli flakes.
  2. Leave the prawns in the marinade in the refrigerator for a couple of hours.
  3. Cook the rice however you please.
  4. Heat a wok until it’s smoking hot.
  5. Add in some high vapour point oil, e.g., Queensland nut oil.
  6. Fry off some garlic, ginger, spring onions and white onions and then add in the prawns and marinade.
  7. Cook the prawns by stir-frying them until they turn red. 
  8. Add in the broccoli florets and mix everything until the broccoli florets soften a little.
  9. Serve in a bowl and eat with the rice using chopsticks.
  10. Some people will want to eat the prawns by sucking them off and then breaking the head off and sucking its head. The next step is peeling the prawns and eating the chilli-flavoured hot flesh. 
  11. I do it differently; I hold the prawn with my chopsticks and suck the juice off it and then eat the whole prawn, including the shell, head, and legs.
  12. If I was cooking this for someone else, I would peel the prawns and remove the alimentary canal first because I know most people would prefer it that way.

Final thoughts

How do you eat prawns?

  • Fresh ginger and garlic
  • Chilli Ginger Garlic Marinade
  • Raw Large Tiger Prawns
  • Raw Large Tiger Prawns in Chilli Ginger Garlic Marinade
  • Raw Large Tiger Prawns in Chilli Ginger Garlic Marinade
  • Spring onions White onion Chilli
  • Stir-frying Garlic, Ginger, Chilli, and Prawns in a wok.
  • Stir-fried Garlic, Ginger, Chilli, and Prawns with white rice.
  • Stir-fried Garlic, Ginger, Chilli, and Prawns with white rice.
  • Stir-fried Garlic, Ginger, Chilli, and Prawns with white rice.

10 hours slowly cooked lamb shoulder

Posted by Gary

10 hours slowly cooked lamb shoulder

Lamb shoulder in its packaging.

During the week, a work friend, viz., MH, mentioned that she cooked two legs of lamb for 10 hours each for Christmas dinner. MH has a large family who all live in rural Victoria.

I’m quite fond of lamb, but I prefer the forequarter rather than a hind leg (also known as the shoulder). I am aware a lot of people aren’t keen on lamb meat. The odour from cooking and cooked lamb is distinct, and some people are put off by it. One of my daughters isn’t keen on lamb meat. Part of her distaste is that she eschews all animal fat and lamb can be quite fat. I like eating breakfast with this daughter because she cuts off all her bacon fat. Guess who gets the discarded bacon fat?

Stolen rosemary with garlic and white onion.

My anatomical preference for lamb is in contrast to my taste for chicken. For chicken, I am a thigh lover over the breasts and wings.

As I was thinking about this meal, I thought I’d try to get things started in the slow cooker at about 6 am so I’d have the meat ready well before my 6 pm dinner deadline.

Lamb shoulder after browning in a frying pan.

The day didn’t start as planned. Oddly for me, I slept in and didn’t start the preparation until about 6.30 am.

Last night, I went for a walk and foraged (stole or acquired) a large amount of rosemary from a few bushes on the footpath outside a local hotel.

I browned the fat and muscle meat in a large frying pan over high heat to prepare the lamb.

Halfway point in a 10 hour slow cook lamb shoulder.

I added all the rosemary in the slow cooker after I scrunched it up and rubbed it vigorously in my hands to break down the leaves a little to release the natural oils. I also cut a knob of garlic in half, sliced one white onion and put it into the cooking vessel.

Add about ¼ cup of dry oregano leaves and a cup of stock.

I then put the lamb into the slow cooker and discovered it was slightly too big. I had to get a knife and cut away some muscle bundles to get the lid to seal correctly.

A wedge of Kent pumpkin rubbed with olive oil, black pepper, iodised salt, chilli flakes and sugar. Ready for the oven.

After ten hours, I opened the slow cooker and removed the shoulder. The fat and muscle meat were coming away from the bones, making the transfer to a tray in one piece difficult. The meat’s tenderness wasn’t a problem because I wanted to pull the muscle bundles off than carve away large cuts from the bone.

Most of the lamb meat is now in an airtight container and refrigerated. Lamb will be a feature of lunches and dinners this week.

Lamb shoulder bones

If you’re wondering what I did with the cooking juices, well wonder no more. I filtered out the rosemary, garlic, and onion and used the liquid to make a gravy. 

I made a roux with a little flour and butter in a saucier pan and cooked it for about 3 minutes. I added the meat juices and cooking liquid and stirred it until a gravy consistency developed.

To accompany tonight’s lamb shoulder roast, I roasted a wedge of Kent pumpkin as well as some broccolini.

I coated the pumpkin with black peppercorns, iodised salt crystals, hot chilli flakes and refined white sugar which I ground in a mortar with a pestle. I like adding a little sugar to help with the caramelisation of the pumpkin. I cooked the pumpkin in an oven at 180 °C for about 45 minutes.

I gently rubbed the broccolini with some olive oil and cooked it with the pumpkin for the 20 minutes of the cooking period.

  • 10 hour slow cook shoulder of lamb with lamb flavoured gravy, roast Kent pumpkin and broccolini.
  • 10 hour slow cook shoulder of lamb with lamb flavoured gravy, roast Kent pumpkin and broccolini.
  • 10 hour slow cook shoulder of lamb with lamb flavoured gravy, roast Kent pumpkin and broccolini.
  • 10 hour slow cook shoulder of lamb with lamb flavoured gravy, roast Kent pumpkin and broccolini.
  • 10 hour slow cook shoulder of lamb with lamb flavoured gravy, roast Kent pumpkin and broccolini.

MH and another workmate, viz., AP, gave me a cultured butter gift on Thursday. I see lamb and gravy rolls on buttered bread being a thing next week.

I have the best workmates who really know me. Cultured butter, biscuits and a microorganism!

Prawns and linguine in a tomato, chilli and garlic sauce

Posted by Gary

Prawns and linguine in a tomato, chilli and garlic sauce

Prawns and linguine in a tomato, chilli and garlic sauce
Prawns and linguine in a tomato, chilli and garlic sauce

Background

Prawns with spaghetti, chilli and garlic were suggested by GC after I asked how she would combine prawns and pasta. I spied some “fresh”* linguine at the supermarket and chose that instead of the spaghetti I had in the pantry.

Ingredients

  • 150 g “fresh” linguine
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2–3 garlic cloves, finely sliced 
  • 1 fresh red chilli*, finely sliced 
  • 210 g chopped tomatoes (I use Mutti™ brand tinned tomatoes)
  • 2 tablespoons of lime* juice
  • 250 g peeled cooked prawns 
  • 1 tablespoon flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
  • Iodised salt flakes
  • Whole black peppercorns, crushed with a pestle in a mortar
Prawns and linguine in a tomato, chilli and garlic sauce
Prawns and linguine in a tomato, chilli and garlic sauce

Instructions

  1. Hone your knives on a honing rod.
  2. Prepare everything ahead of time.
  3. Boil some salted water and add the prawn heads to add a little extra flavour to the water.
  4. Boil the prawn heads for about five minutes to extract the flavour from them. After five minutes, remove the prawn heads with a strainer or whatever tool you have that works.
  5. With the water in a rolling* boil, empty the packet of “fresh” linguine into the boiling water and cook according to the maker’s instructions for use.
  6. Heat the oil in a non-stick skillet or wok and add the garlic and chilli.
  7. Cook the garlic and chilli for about a minute then add the lime juice and tomatoes.
  8. Cook for about 5 minutes on high heat until the sauce begins to bubble and has reduced slightly.
  9. Add in the prawns and heat them through, this should only take about 30 seconds. Don’t ruin them by overcooking them because that would be a tragedy of epic proportions.
  10. After the instructed cooking time, drain the spaghetti, add it to the tomato and prawn sauce, and then add some parsley. Toss everything together over low heat combining the spaghetti with the sauce.
  11. Transfer everything to a bowl and garnish with more parsley as well as some salt and pepper.
  12. The question that beckons is how to eat this meal. When I look at it, it looks like a noodle stir fry so do I grab a pair of chopsticks? In deference to Italian friends though, I went with a fork and a spoon.
  13. Floss and brush your teeth multiple times because I went with three cloves of garlic.
Flat-leaf parsley, whole black peppercorns, iodised salt flakes, Mutti tomatoes, garlic, limes and chilli
Flat-leaf parsley, whole black peppercorns, iodised salt flakes, Mutti tomatoes, garlic, limes and chilli
Halved limes, ground pepper and salt, sliced and diced chilli, Mutti tomatoes and sliced garlic
Halved limes, ground pepper and salt, sliced and diced chilli, Mutti tomatoes and sliced garlic
Cooked prawns
Cooked prawns
Peeled prawns and prawn heads
Peeled prawns and prawn heads
Fresh linguine
Fresh linguine

Optional extra lobster meat

I was keen on a Moreton Bay bug (slipper lobster) but ended up with a small lobster tail. This tail had been frozen and was thawing when I bought it. I completed the thawing and then cooked it in some salted water for about 4 minutes. To stop overcooking the lobster meat, I plunged the cooked lobster tail into ice water. 

I could have sliced the tail and combined it with the prawns, however, I chose to keep the lobster meat separate and ate it along with the meal adding a forkful of pasta and prawns to a slice of lobster meat. 

Raw lobster tail
Raw lobster tail
Cooked lobster tail in a saucepan
Cooked lobster tail in a saucepan
Cooked lobster tail on kitchen paper
Cooked lobster tail on kitchen paper
Cooked lobster tail on ice
Cooked lobster tail on ice

If you’re thinking, “How can Gary afford this?” it comes down to the trade problems Australia is currently experiencing with China. China is refusing to import products like lobsters so there is a glut and lobster meat is cheaper than normal.

Final thoughts

  • This was a good meal.
  • Everything came together well.
  • I think this is the first time I used tomatoes and didn’t add any cream or cheese of any nature.
  • If you make this please let me know in the comments. Thanks.

Notes

  • “Fresh” in this situation with the packet refrigerated linguine means not dry.
  • Rolling or roiling boil? Roiling is an old word, so it’s suited to old farts rather than young people. 
  • Lime juice or lemon juice? I know many recipes suggest lemon juice, but I like the freshness of lime juice. 
  • Should you remove the seeds from the chilli? It’s really up to you. Last Saturday night, I ate a very hot chilli with my brother and his daughter on a dare. We all suffered. Our eyes watered. It felt like the mucosa in our buccal cavities was sloughing off. I was producing copious volumes of saliva. The pain lasted for about 30 minutes.
Lake Ginninderra
Lake Ginninderra

It was a nice day in Canberra today.