Air fryer

No food photos

Posted by Gary

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Dear Reader,

Introduction

I hope you’ve had a good week. I’ve been doing well. Life is generally good.

How is the foot?

What’s happened this week?

There’s nothing really to report this week. I caught an Uber to work on Monday because I needed to be there to complete some tasks I couldn’t do from home. It was good to see people and be in another environment.

On Monday, it was pouring rain. To avoid getting my cast wet, I applied a thick ziplock bag and then a heavy-duty rubbish bag to my leg and secured them with rubber bands.

Extensor Hallucis Longus repair Plastic protection

My eldest daughter visited me on the weekend to help with a few tasks in the flat. There have been some things I needed help with.

Having Kathleen visit and help when I came home from the hospital was amazing. She is amazing.

Having one of my daughters visit me was fantastic. I am looking forward to the time when I can fly again to see my daughters and parents.

What have I been watching?

Reacher (season 2)

I’m a fan of the Reacher audiobooks. My father and one of my brothers read the books in paperback form.

The television adaption of the books has been good. Television and movie adaptions are rarely faithful to the book versions. Reacher season 2 was good because it introduced the members of Reacher’s unit, the 110th.

The season has eight episodes, and Amazon Prime released them one at a time.  

Star Trek Deep Space Nine and Star Trek Voyager

I continue to alternate between the two series, one episode at a time.

Recipe — Air fryer steak

I had planned on lamb chops because my daughter loves lamb. I tried twice to have the supermarket deliver lamb chops. Each time, the lamb chops failed to materialise.

Instead, I resorted to thinly sliced scotch fillet steaks. I use the air fryer because it’s safer when I can’t bear weight on my left leg. Even with a high stool to sit on, it’s awkward, and I’d prefer to be safe rather than sorry.

Equipment

  • Air fryer

Ingredients

  • Thinly sliced scotch fillet steak
  • Lettuce leaves
  • Avocado
  • Olives
  • Extra virgin olive oil
  • Vinegar

Instructions

  1. Cook the steaks on a rack for 9 minutes at 180 °C.
  2. Allow the steak to rest before serving.
  3. Make a simple salad with lettuce leaves, avocado, olives, extra virgin olive oil, vinegar, and salt.
  4. If you’re following a meat-only diet, just the meat will be more than sufficient to satisfy your hunger. You can pick up the leg and just bite into it. This minimises washing.
  5. If you’re low-carbohydrate eating, meat and some plant-based foods like avocado, leafy green leaves, olives, and tomatoes are a good combination.
  6. If you’re not concerned with carbohydrates, fill your boots.
  7. If you’re vegetarian or vegan, this meal won’t be suitable.
  8. Always give thanks to the Lord.
  9. Eat with whatever implements you prefer.

Thoughts on the meal

This meal was nothing special. When I visit Brisbane next, I will cook something special for my daughter and her partner, as well as the rest of my daughters and my parents.

Final thoughts

  • Have you watched the Reacher series on TV? What did you think?

Disclaimer and comments

This post and other posts on this blog are not medical or health advice. I’m sharing my personal experiences from my lived experience. My opinions remain mine.

For health advice, see your regular medical practitioner. For diet advice, consult with appropriately registered professionals.

Beans and rice

Posted by Gary

If you do not care to read the introductory guff, click here for the recipe.

Dear Reader, 

I hope you had a good week. I had a fabulous week. Everything went swimmingly well, and it ended peacefully. 

Tonight, I am adding beans to my congee. I got the idea from Rebecca Clyde, from the Facebook group “Cooking for One”. Rebecca is a US-based registered nutritionist who shares recipes on her blog. Her recipe for beans and rice cooked in a pressure cooker caught my attention because she separated the beans and the rice in the cooking vessel. I decided against the rice and bean schism and cleaved them in congee.

I’ll have enough leftover congee for many meals and for developing resistant starches to assist my gut microbiota[1–3]. 

What have I been listening to?

Jessica Cyphers blogs about writing, teaching, and travel, and she has been sharing in her weekly newsletter some snippets from a book she’s reading, titled, The Myth of Normal by Gabor Maté and his son Daniel Maté and published in 2022. Daniel narrates the audio version of the book. The subtitle for the book is Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture. Gabor is a Canadian medical practitioner who clarifies the psychosomatic basis for disease. As a specialist pathologist, I find his thesis interesting. I think clinicopathological correlation should always include psychiatric input.

In contrast to the Armour of God sermon series (sixty-eight sermons) by Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones on Ephesians 6:10–13, I’ve enjoyed; I am listening to 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene to understand better some behaviours I see around me. While Elon Musk does not enamour me as a person, I have more respect for the name Tesla having listened to the first seven chapters of this book.

Stuff on the screen

Did you hear about the incident with the Spanish MasterChef TV show? I imagine the contestants execrated the food managers on that occasion. I’ve not watched the Australian version of MasterChef or My Kitchen Rules for a few years because I can no longer access free-to-air TV. I don’t know if similar situations have occurred in Australia. 

One food-related program I did watch with interest is Hunger on Netflix. The actors are Thai, and the story revolves around a noodle cook invited to join the restaurant crew under a chef who attracts wealthy clientele. It is not a movie for the faint-hearted. 

Also, on Netflix, I watched Miriam Margoyles in her three-part documentary, “Almost Australian“. I watched it on Anzac Day. Coincidentally, Miriam visits Anzac Hill in Alice Springs in Episode Two. I attended a dawn service on Anzac Hill years ago during my Darwin years. Many of the crew from HMAS Arunta were present (the Arunta name and original motto, ‘Conquer or Die,’ recognise the ship’s history and ongoing relationship with the Arrernte people of Central Australia), with a RAN Chaplain officiating the service. I recommend watching Australia Unmasked.

Recipe 

Equipment 

  • Pressure cooker 
  • Air fryer 

Ingredients 

  • Brown rice – 1 cup
  • Black beans (or pinto beans) – ½ cup 
  • Vegetable stock – 2 litres 
  • Chicken thighs – 2 thighs 
  • Duck breast
  • Brussels sprouts 
  • Broccoli 
  • Salt 
  • Pepper 

Instructions 

  1. Wash the rice until the water is clear. 
  2. Wash the beans to remove grit and dirt. 
  3. Bisect the chicken thighs with a machete, cane knife, or humungous Chinese meat cleaver. 
  4. Boil the vegetable stock and add some dried porcini mushrooms until the mushrooms bloat and become tender. 
  5. Add the mushroom-enhanced stock to the pressure cooker with the rice, beans, duck, and chicken. 
  6. Cook everything for one hour. 
  7. Allow the pressure to equilibrate and open the lid. 
  8. Remove the bones from the meat, and then with a wooden spoon, mix everything so the rice, beans, and chicken are combined. 
  9. Season to taste. 
  10. Cook some halved Brussels sprouts and broccoli florets in the air fryer. 
  11. Spoon some congee into a bowl and add some soy sauce. 
  12. Serve the congee with Brussels sprouts, broccoli, and some spring onions. 
  13. Give thanks to the Lord. 
  14. Eat with a spoon. 

Thoughts on the meal

Congee aficionados might object to the addition of beans. The hue of the congee was darker than normal; however, the taste was amazing. I like to experiment and try new things.

The congee was enjoyable and comforting.

Photographs

Black beans
Brown rice
Porcini mushrooms
Black beans
Brown rice
Porcini mushrooms
Chicken Duck
Chicken Duck
Chicken Duck
Rice and bean congee with mushrooms, chicken, and duck; served with Brussels sprouts and broccoli
Rice and bean congee with mushrooms, chicken, and duck; served with Brussels sprouts and broccoli
Rice and bean congee with mushrooms, chicken, and duck; served with Brussels sprouts and broccoli

What else have I eaten this week?

References

  1. Wen, J.J., et al., Resistant starches and gut microbiota. Food Chem, 2022. 387: p. 132895.
  2. DeMartino, P. and D.W. Cockburn, Resistant starch: impact on the gut microbiome and health. Curr Opin Biotechnol, 2020. 61: p. 66-71.
  3. Raigond, P., R. Ezekiel, and B. Raigond, Resistant starch in food: a review. J Sci Food Agric, 2015. 95(10): p. 1968-78.

    Air fryer duck breast

    Posted by Gary

    Dear Reader,

    I recently replaced my toaster oven with an air fryer. I thought I’d try duck breast for my first meal in the appliance.

    Recipe

    Equipment

    • Air fryer
    • Microwave radiation oven

    Ingredients

    • Duck breast
    • Salt – iodised cooking salt.
    • Pepper – freshly ground.
    • Garlic powder
    • French onion soup Buderim ginger marmalade reduction sauce
    • Brown rice
    • Leftover pressure cooker cooked carrot

    Instructions

    Duck

    1. The day before cooking the duck, dry brine the duck.
    2. Season the breast with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
    3. Place the breast on some paper towel on a plate and then refrigerate it uncovered overnight.
    4. The next day before cooking, cut some hash marks in through the skin and fat to help the fat render more evenly when cooking.
    5. Take some of the French onion soup Buderim ginger marmalade reduction sauce out of the refrigerator and heat it using microwave radiation.
    6. Cook at 200 °C (400 °F) for 10 minutes in the air fryer and then remove the rack.
    7. Brush some sauce onto the skin and cook at 200 °C for 5 minutes.
    8. Remove the duck from the oven and allow the oven to cool down. Cleaning cool metal is safer.
    9. Slice the duck with a sharp knife.

    Rice

    1. Cook the rice according to the instructions on the packaging. Yes, I use microwave radiation rice because I’m a lazy man.
    2. Fluff the cooked rice in a bowl to remove clumps.

    Carrot

    1. Brush the carrot pieces with some of the sauce.
    2. Add the leftover carrot pieces to the rack with the duck when it returns for its final five minutes at 200 °C.

    Plating up

    1. Place the rice on the dinner plate and place the duck breast on it.
    2. Add the carrot and then spoon over the warmed sauce.
    3. Give thanks to the Lord.
    4. Eat with a fork or chopsticks.

    Thoughts on the meal

    I typically cook duck breast in a heated water bath and then sear the skin. The air fryer is a quick and easy method. I’ll cook as I see fit. One of the advantages of sous vide is that I can cook meals well in advance to accommodate my work schedule. Pulling out a cooked bag of meat and enjoying it without too much fuss is easy.

    For people who do not have a similar work schedule, I can see how the air fryer would be a great option.

    Photographs

    Dry brined duck breast
    Dry brined duck breast
    Dry brined duck breast
    Air fryer duck breast
    Air fryer duck breast
    Air fryer duck breast with brown rice and carrot drizzled with French onion soup and Buderim ginger marmalade reduction sauce
    Air fryer duck breast with brown rice and carrot drizzled with French onion soup and Buderim ginger marmalade reduction sauce
    Air fryer duck breast with brown rice and carrot drizzled with French onion soup and Buderim ginger marmalade reduction sauce
    Air fryer duck breast with brown rice and carrot drizzled with French onion soup and Buderim ginger marmalade reduction sauce
    Air fryer duck breast with brown rice and carrot drizzled with French onion soup and Buderim ginger marmalade reduction sauce
    Air fryer duck breast with brown rice and carrot drizzled with French onion soup and Buderim ginger marmalade reduction sauce