I don’t often have a meat-free meal, but I was prompted by a comment from Canberra blogging friend Sue on my diary blog. Pumpkin soup is a wonderful winter comfort food. Normally I cook it along with some bacon and cream. I wondered how to make a nice flavourful soup without the meat products so when I saw some coconut cream on special I thought I’d use it along with some sesame oil and some other spices like Sichuan seasoning, cumin and coriander seeds as well as some curry powder.
I thought I’d do something similar with some chicken drumsticks, curry paste, curry powder, and Sichuan seasoning.
It was a pretty easy meal to cook and ended up being delicious.
Unlike Greg, I didn’t rely on a whole bottle of a ready-made curry, instead, I used some generic red curry paste, some Clive of India extra hot curry powder, and some Sichuan seasoning. rather than doing everything in the pressure cooker vessel I transferred the chicken from the pressure cooker to a frypan and finished it off with some coconut cream.
Old Bay seasoning (OBS) is from the state of Maryland in the United States of America (USA). This is a herb and spice mix that isn’t readily available in supermarkets in Australia. I was sent a tin from a friend from across the Pacific Ocean and who has a deep an abiding affection for Old Bay seasoning. Her name is Jennie, and she is one of the hosts of the podcast Mouthy Broadcast.
If you enjoy an NSFW podcast characterised by bawdy humour, insightful commentary on life in the USA, and a perspective on Star Trek, Star Wars, Dr Who, DC, Marvel, wrestling, and sandwiches, Mouthy Broadcast may be right up your alley. If you’re not into bawdy humour and swearing, then maybe don’t go there.
In addition to the Old Bay, Lauren, who is also a host on Mouthy Broadcast, sent some Chick-fil-A sauces. Jennie added to the sauces with a zesty buffalo sauce. Lauren is best known as the Sandwich Queen of Fredericksburg. Lauren’s knowledge of sandwiches makes me want to do a sandwich eating holiday in the USA.
Saturday lunch. Baked Spam fried cauliflower rice with a fried egg.
Spam fried cauliflower rice inspired by Mrs Woog
Cauliflower rice was recently mentioned by Mrs Woog over at her blog. I should disclose I have not listened to her podcast but I did write a comment. It sort of fits in with a Tweet from today.
After three days of feeling pretty ordinary. I hope today I can fart with confidence in public. #travellersdiarrhoea sucks
You’ll need to read the comment I made on Mrs Woog’s post to see why.
So now that I seem to have recovered from my traveller’s diarrhoea, it seemed appropriate to have some Spam for lunch. I’d eaten a couple of rashers of streaky bacon for breakfast, so I thought some vegetable matter would be appropriate for lunch. Spam fried cauliflower rice was the first thing that came to mind.
I bought everything from Coles. The Spam was on special.
Cheese pie, hey! Normally I know well in advance what I’ll be cooking on a Saturday. Today, however, was different. I hadn’t given much thought to Saturday dinner during the week. I know right. Shock! Horror!
When I saw the pork and beef mince in the meat section of Coles this morning I figured I’d use it sometime during the week. By the time, I got back to the apartment, I still had no idea what I was going to cook. It took a walk around Lake Ginninderra for me to get my head around what I was going to put together.
Please do me a favour
I think I’ve managed to work out how to use e-mail lists for sending post notifications and newsletters. I’d love it if you would sign up using the ‘form’ in the side bar (if you’re using a laptop or desktop) or at the bottom of the post (if you’re using a mobile device).
By subscribing you’ll receive a personalised e-mail from me and from time to time, apart from the blog post I’ll share something new, like my ideas for a cook book sometime this year.
Preparing tonight’s dinner
Fortunately, I had most of the ingredients I needed for this somewhat unusual cheese pie.
What you will need to put this meal for one together
500 grams of pork and beef mince
A few good splashes of Worcestershire sauce
Two handfuls of grated Coon cheese
A small handful of sliced spring onion
One small sliced red chilli
One small sliced jalapeño pepper
Half a handful of dried chilli flakes
Two good splashes of cheap olive oil
Three pieces of bread
Seven slices of smoked cheese
Two handful of fried shallots
One handful of panko breadcrumbs
One small packet of baby spinach leaves
Two sliced tomatoes
How to put all this together
It’s always best to get your meat to room temperature before cooking it, so pull out the mince (ground meat for my friends in North America) and let it get to room temperature
In the mince add a splash of the cheap olive oil, a few good splashes of Worcestershire sauce, a handful of grated Coon cheese, half the spring onions, half the chillies and jalapeño pepper, the chilli flakes and a handful of fried shallots
Mix it all together and as my Mum says, whack your pork to get the muscle fibres tender
Allow the mince and the stuff you mixed into it to rest while you get everything else prepared
In the bottom of a stainless-steel frying pan or any other oven safe container lay out the bread and then lay on some of the smoked cheese
Splash some oil around to ensure you have a base with a ‘fried bread’ texture
Add the meat mix on top and spread it out
Cover the meat with the spinach leaves
Lay over the spinach leaves the slices of tomato
Next comes the remainder of the spring onions, chilli and jalapeño pepper
The final layer on top if the combined panko bread crumbs, fried shallots and the last of the grated Coon cheese
I splashed a little more of the cheap olive oil on top before putting it all into a moderate oven set at 150 °C (300 °F) for one hour
When it’s ready allow it to cool and serve with vegetables or eat on its own, whatever you fancy really
How did the cheese pie taste?
It was smoky, cheesy, spicy, and crispy. I really liked it. There’s enough left over for meals during the week.
Spicy and crispy pork and beef cheese pie with vegetables [click on the photo for a better view]
Final thoughts
Making up meals like this is fun. Just put your imagination to it and see what happens.
If you want to see what I got up to today, check out this link.
I’m not sure if I’ll get to nominating other bloggers and generating 11 questions, but here are Jennifer’s questions and my answers.
How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?
Old enough
What is your favourite holiday that you celebrate?
Australia Day, 26 January. It’s a controversial day for Indigenous Australians, but it’s important to me. I also enjoy eating food that is typically Australian on Australia Day.
What’s something you know you do differently than most people?
I cook congee or jook in a slow cooker rather than a pressure cooker or simmering it on a stove in a big pot.
What talent or skill would you most like to have?
I would love to be able to sing.
You have to fight off a monster with whatever is to your left. What is it?
My iPhone. I use the Star Wars light sabre app to scare the monster.
What’s your favourite meal?
My mother’s wonton soup.
Let’s play “Our Town”–You have died and get to relive one day. What day?
Body surfing perfect waves on the sunshine coast, Queensland.
If the average human life span was 40 years, how would you live/have lived your life differently?
I would have travelled and done some of my speciality training overseas and I would have made time to see various parts of the world.
You can witness any historic event of your choice. Which one?
The Japanese surrender on the USS Missouri.
Who is your hero?
My former boss, Dr Len Notaras, AM.
What do you order your first time at a restaurant that you have never been to before?
Oysters natural with a little lime juice and salt if the restaurant has it.
Stop Press: Leftovers
Pork and beef meatloaf cheese pie with bacon and red chilli | Sunday night leftovers [Click on the photo for a better view]
Parting words
I regularly post photographs of food to Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Please feel free to connect with me on any social media platform. I also have a podcast. It’s not food related but each show is short and it’s named Medical Fun Facts. You can find it in the iTunes podcast store as well as Stitcher. A show drops every Monday and Tuesday. It has a little cynicism, a little scepticism and occasionally some sarcasm.
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