Avocado

Baked salmon, pickled coleslaw and avocado

Posted by Gary
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.

 

 

Lunch at The Boathouse by the Lake

Posted by Gary
The Boathouse by the Lake menu for Eat Drink Blog 6
The Boathouse by the Lake menu for Eat Drink Blog 6

It’s been a bit over a week since Eat Drink Blog 6 has finished. In my roundup of my 15 favourite things about Eat Drink Blog 6 I mentioned I wanted to do a separate post about the experience at The Boathouse by the Lake.

The Boathouse is one of my favourite Canberra restaurants for fine dining. The Boathouse was an option for the final session of the conference and we had to provide our preferences well in advance. Given I don’t drink alcohol I wasn’t that interested in the brewery or the winery visits. I would have been happy with coffee, but really I had my heart set on The Boathouse. It seems I wasn’t alone, Amanda Whitley said The Boathouse was the popular choice amongst all the delegates. I’m just so grateful I got my first choice.

As we arrived on the bus with Amanda as our leader we were escorted to the main verandah for a drink and some canapes. The view of Lake Burley Griffin was pretty good for an overcast day.

This is a photograph of Lake Burley Griffin from The Boathouse by the Lake
Lake Burley Griffin from The Boathouse by the Lake

The session would consist of lunch during which we would enjoy a cooking demonstration. We met the owner, James Souter, two chefs John Leverink and Alex O’Brien and the sommelier Kate Hibberson. James explained how he and his wife came to own The Boathouse purchasing the restaurant from James’ father.

The first dish was a raw tuna, avocado and wasabi jelly entrée. We were treated to a new ingredient in wasabi sesame seeds which John explained he sourced from the Good Grub Hub. This stuff is dynamite. They’re on twitter too.

A slight digression, Simone from Play with food found out how to mail order the wasabi sesame seeds and shared the information with me through twitter. The Hungry Mum aka Belinda also got into the twitter conversation and ‘threatened’ to buy up all the wasabi sesame seeds. I felt my happiness was at risk so I immediately placed an order for three bottles. I’ll keep two and give one to a friend.

 

I suggest you follow Simone, Belinda and me on twitter and you can see how the conversation has developed over a week.

Back to The Boathouse. The entrée was fabulous.

This is a photograph of the final plating up of Yellow fin tuna, avocado, chicken skin crackling and wasabi jelly with wasabi sesame seeds
Yellow fin tuna, avocado, chicken skin crackling and wasabi jelly with wasabi sesame seeds. Sorry about the blur associated with the tips of the forceps, chicken skin crackling and herbs.
This is a black and white photograph of The Boathouse by the Lake chefs JOHN LEVERINK and ALEX O'BRIEN
The Boathouse by the Lake chefs JOHN LEVERINK and ALEX O’BRIEN

The main course was a lovely duck breast.

The photograph is of a main meal of Duck breast, almond tofu, mustard and legumes
Duck breast, almond tofu, mustard and legumes

I think everyone was taken by the dessert. This is an Alex O’Brien creation which he and John said is a controversial element of the menu. Apparently people love it or hate it. The chefs love it so it stays on the menu. I loved it too.

The photograph is of a dessert made up of Smoked chocolate ice cream, beetroots, speculaas, and baby coriander
Smoked chocolate ice cream, beetroots, speculaas, and baby coriander

I’d highly recommend The Boathouse by the Lake to any food lover living in or visiting Canberra.

Tonight I used some of the wasabi sesame seeds on my baked salmon with wilted kale, peas, corn, almonds, shallots, spring onions, lemon zest, chilli flakes and wasabi sesame seeds

Baked salmon with wilted kale, peas, corn, almonds, shallots, spring onions, lemon zest, chilli flakes and wasabi sesame seeds
Baked salmon with wilted kale, peas, corn, almonds, shallots, spring onions, lemon zest, chilli flakes and wasabi sesame seeds

I received my wasabi sesame seeds today. Thanks to John Leverink and Simone Emery.

The Good Grub Hub Wasabi Sesame seed package
The Good Grub Hub Wasabi Sesame seed package
The Good Grub Hub Wasabi Sesame seed package
The Good Grub Hub Wasabi Sesame seed package
The Good Grub Hub Wasabi Sesame seed package
The Good Grub Hub Wasabi Sesame seed package
Wasabi sesame seeds
Wasabi sesame seeds

Perfectly baked salmon

Posted by Gary

Since turning the ripe old age of fifty I’ve been monitoring my health a little more. You’ll recall the posts on the birthday gift from the Australian Government and the follow up on my colonoscopy. Tonight I want to share with you how I make perfectly baked salmon.

Sunday dinner. Baked salmon with kale salad yoghurt instant noodles.
Sunday dinner. Baked salmon with kale salad yoghurt instant noodles.

Given a need to keep everything in good shape I reexamined my eating habits and thought rather than the low carbohydrate high fat diet, given my age, I should look at reducing my saturated fat intake and try to keep sugar to moderate levels. That meant a reassessment of how much red meat I ate. I’ve basically reduced the amount of beef, lamb and pork to occasional ingestion and I treat those occasions as special. The mainstay protein of my diet at the moment has been skinless chicken and fresh Atlantic salmon (from the clean waters around Tasmania).

I used to cook my salmon in a frying pan with a lid on for five minutes and it would give me perfect results albeit a little smoky. I used to use grape seed oil to stop the skin from sticking to the bottom of the frying pan. It also meant I would have lovely crisp skin. In an effort to further reduce the amount of oil, I’ve turned to baking my salmon. I have a small bench top toaster/oven which is perfect for cooking small sized fillets of fresh salmon.

To achieve perfectly baked salmon I heat the oven to 200 °C (392 °F) and then on baking paper I place the salmon and add a little salt and pepper and anything else I may want to season the salmon with, e.g., chilli flakes or dried mixed herbs. If you like you could rub in a small amount of olive oil but it really isn’t necessary. I then place the salmon in the oven for 12 minutes (I use a timer so I don’t get it wrong).

After 12 minutes I turn off the oven and open the door. I then let the salmon rest for 5 minutes and don’t do anything with it. After 5 minutes it’s cool enough to pick up with your fingers and to be placed/arranged on a plate. At this stage it can also be flaked apart if you wish to add it to pasta or rice.

I’ve added some photographs of my baked salmon meals including a few time-lapse videos of me consuming these perfectly baked salmon dishes.

If you click on a photograph it will open up a short YouTube video.

This is a photograph of Monday dinner. Baked salmon, sweet corn and wasabi aioli avocado.
Monday dinner. Baked salmon, sweet corn and wasabi aioli avocado.
This is a photograph of Tuesday dinner. Salmon and noodles.
Tuesday dinner. Salmon and noodles.
This is a photograph of Monday dinner. Watch me eat baked salmon with quinoa kale coleslaw with walnuts, coconut and sesame seeds.
Monday dinner. Watch me eat baked salmon with quinoa kale coleslaw with walnuts, coconut and sesame seeds.
This is a photograph of Baked salmon with sweet potato chips, quinoa rice and kale coleslaw
Baked salmon with sweet potato chips, quinoa rice and kale coleslaw

 Do you have a way to make perfectly baked salmon?

Fried chicken quinoa rice and kale

Posted by Gary

Fried chicken quinoa rice and kale just sounds so yummy doesn’t it? What could be better than combining quinoa and kale superfoods. Okay so I’m being a little facetious. I do like quinoa and kale. Mixing them together with other yummy stuff just makes for a perfect meal for one which is quick and easy to put together.

Fried chicken quinoa rice and kale
Recipe Type: Dinner
Cuisine: Australian
Author: [url href=”https://about.me/garydlum” target=”_blank”]Gary Lum[/url]
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 1
Ingredients
  • Skinless chicken thigh
  • Quinoa
  • Rice
  • kale
  • Almond flakes
  • Fried shallots
  • Red onion
  • Fennel
  • Chives
  • Parsley
  • Low fat coconut milk
  • Red capsicum
Instructions
  1. Bake the chicken in foil at 220 °C for 40 minutes and then slice up thinly
  2. Wilt shredded kale in a frying pan with oil
  3. Add the shredded chicken
  4. Add the cooked quinoa and rice
  5. Add the capsicum
  6. Stir fry everything until it’s cooked through
  7. Add the flaked almonds and fried shallots
  8. Add a good slug of low fat coconut milk and let it incorporate into the rice
  9. Turn off the heat and stir in the fennel and red onion
  10. Plate up and garnish with chives and parsley
  11. Shoot a photograph
  12. Eat the bowl of food
  13. Wash the dishes
  14. Write the recipe
  15. Blog (verb)
Thursday dinner. Fried chicken quinoa rice and kale.
Thursday dinner. Fried chicken quinoa rice and kale.

 

Thursday lunch. Pumpkin, tomato, and spinach pizza from Urban Bean Espresso Bar.
Thursday lunch. Pumpkin, tomato, and spinach pizza from Urban Bean Espresso Bar.
Thursday lunch. Pumpkin, tomato, and spinach pizza from Urban Bean Espresso Bar.
Thursday lunch. Pumpkin, tomato, and spinach pizza from Urban Bean Espresso Bar.

 

Thursday breakfast. Baked beans and avocado on an English muffin.
Thursday breakfast. Baked beans and avocado on an English muffin.

What did you cook for dinner tonight? Would you have quinoa rice?

If you want to see the photographs as a gallery click here. Click on one image to see it full size. To see the EXIF data (including a map if the photograph was geotagged) click on the information (i) icon in the top right corner. You can navigate through the gallery using the arrow keys or by swiping if you’re using a tablet or smartphone.

Schnitz at Woden What I ate today

Posted by Gary

I went out to lunch today with a few friends to Schnitz at Woden. Schnitz is a franchise from Melbourne and it specialises in chicken, beef and fish schnitzel. I wasn’t aware that you could get beef and fish schnitzel. I thought you could get chicken and veal schnitzel. Otherwise it’s just crumbed fish and steak. They also do crumb-free schnitzel which IMHO is just wrong.

Anyway I started the day with some avocado and pickled ginger on toasted Rye.

Thursday breakfast. Avocado and pickled ginger on toasted Rye bread.
Thursday breakfast. Avocado and pickled ginger on toasted Rye bread.

For lunch I had a chicken schnitzel with chips and sweet chilli mayonnaise. It was okay. The schnitzel was on the small side but the chips were very tasty.

Thursday lunch. Chicken schnitzel with chips and sweet chilli mayonnaise.
Thursday lunch. Chicken schnitzel with chips and sweet chilli mayonnaise.

For dinner I went with a light sandwich. A beef burger with avocado and pickled ginger.

Thursday dinner. Beef burger with avocado and pickled ginger.
Thursday dinner. Beef burger with avocado and pickled ginger.

If you want to see the photographs as a gallery click here. Click on one image to see it full size. To see the EXIF data (including a map if the photograph was geotagged) click on the information (i) icon in the top right corner. You can navigate through the gallery using the arrow keys or by swiping if you’re using a tablet or smartphone.

Have you tried schnitz? How do you feel about a crumb-free schnitzel?