Canberra

Delicious spicy pumpkin soup with a twist

Posted by Gary

As they say in Game of Thrones, “Winter is coming”. It’s getting cold so that means warming comfort foods. In my mind for a comfort soup it has to be a spicy pumpkin soup, not a boring creamy bland soup but a soup with kick. 

Here's the kicker. Jalapeño peppers with some capsicum.
Here’s the kicker. Jalapeño peppers with some capsicum.

Now ordinarily I’d start my soup by frying off some streaky bacon but tonight I used some classic SPAM® because I still have some left over from last night’s meal SPAM® is my SECRET ingredient.

Hot and spicy pumpkin soup garnished with fried shallots and dried edible flowers
Hot and spicy pumpkin soup garnished with fried shallots and dried edible flowers
Delicious spicy pumpkin soup with a twist
 
Recipe Type: Dinner
Cuisine: Australian
Author: Gary Lum
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 1
Ingredients
  • Kent pumpkin diced
  • Capsicum diced
  • Jalapeño pepper sliced
  • Classic SPAM® diced
  • Worcestershire sauce
  • Tabasco sauce
  • Pepper
  • White wine
  • Coconut cream
  • Fried shallots
  • Garlic
Instructions
  1. Fry off the SPAM® in a saucepan until it starts to change colour and stick to the bottom of the pan
  2. Add a splash of white wine to deglase the bottom of the pan
  3. Add the pumpkin, capsicum and jalapeño pepper
  4. Cover with some water and add the crushed garlic plus Worcestershire sauce and Tabasco sauce
  5. Bring to a simmer and cook until the pumpkin is soft
  6. With a stick blender process the soup until it is smooth
  7. Add a splash of coconut and stir in
  8. Pour the soup into a bowl and garnish with fried shallots and dried edible flowers
  9. Shoot a photograph
  10. Enjoy the soup
  11. Washes the dishes
  12. Blog (verb)
 

Now for an added treat I wanted to share with some my other meals from today

Uncle Toby's Rolled Oats (Porridge) with brown sugar
Uncle Toby’s Rolled Oats (Porridge) with brown sugar

For morning tea my amazing work mates brought in a Flute bakery cake for my 50th birthday. They are totally awesome.

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For lunch I had an Irish lamb hot pie from Urban Bean Espresso Bar. It reminded me of today’s notquitenigella post.

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So how do you make a spicy pumpkin soup? Would you add spam?

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Saimin salmon salad

Posted by Gary

Today was the last day of my holiday. For dinner I thought back to a lunch I had in Hawaii, viz., a saimin burger and went about making a saimin salmon salad for dinner tonight. 

In case you’re interested, I cooked the noodles in hot water and then fried them in egg rings. I added a little olive oil, soy sauce, Tabasco sauce and maple syrup. 

Saimin burger from L&L Hawaiian Barbecue
Saimin burger from L&L Hawaiian Barbecue
Saimin salmon salad for dinner
Saimin salmon salad for dinner

I spent my last day of my holiday at home cleaning up and unpacking, washing more clothes and catching up on personal e-mails. I also went for a walk around Lake Ginninderra and shot some photographs.

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For breakfast I made cheesy scrambled eggs. 

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I had a coffee at Heather’s House of Cake.

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I made a BLT for lunch. 

Have you ever eaten saimin salmon salad?

 

Super Saturday salmon sandwiches

Posted by Gary

Today I ended up have salmon sandwiches for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Who would have thought I’d ever do that?

I basically repeated breakfast and lunch but changed the carbohydrate from a quinoa pane di casa to a poppy seed bagel. For dinner I had the last quinoa pane di casa and cooked some salmon. All three salmon sandwiches were essentially the same with minor variations. 

Tomorrow is Sunday. Will there be salmon on Sunday?

Smoked salmon, capers, and cream cheese on quinoa and whole grain pane di casa | salmon sandwiches
Breakfast | Smoked salmon, capers, and cream cheese on quinoa and whole grain pane di casa

This was a nice light breakfast and it had quinoa 

Smoked salmon, dill, capers, and cream cheese on a bagel | salmon sandwiches
Lunch | Smoked salmon, dill, capers, and cream cheese on a bagel

I went and bought some dill especially today after breakfast because salmon needs dill.

Atlantic salmon, dill, capers, and cream cheese on quinoa and whole grain pane di casa with potato gems | salmon sandwiches
Dinner | Atlantic salmon, dill, capers, and cream cheese on quinoa and whole grain pane di casa with potato gems

The big difference for dinner was adding the potato gems. I love potato gems.

 

This afternoon I went for a walk around Lake Ginninderra and shot some photographs.

Cloud porn over Lake Ginninderra
Cloud porn over Lake Ginninderra
Big yellow tree on Lake Ginninderra
Big yellow tree on Lake Ginninderra
Lake Ginninderra
Lake Ginninderra

Do you like salmon sandwiches? What do you put on them?

Where’s the quinoa in this delicious chicken roll?

Posted by Gary

TGIF people and it’s Friday night with the footy about to start and a weekend to enjoy. What could be better than a quick and easy delicious chicken roll? The perfect food to eat while watching the footy. Lets Go Broncos!

So where’s the quinoa? Well it’s in the wholemeal pane di casa!

Wholemeal and quinoa pane di casa with lashings of butter and a layer of roquette topped with roast chicken and stuffing and a line of mustard, my delicious chicken roll
Wholemeal and quinoa pane di casa with lashings of butter and a layer of roquette topped with roast chicken and stuffing and a line of mustard, my delicious chicken roll
Where’s the quinoa in this delicious chicken roll?
 
Recipe Type: Dinner
Cuisine: Australian
Author: Gary Lum
Prep time:
Total time:
Serves: 1
Ingredients
  • Roast chicken
  • Wholemeal and quinoa pane di casa
  • Butter
  • Baby roquette
  • Dijon mustard
Instructions
  1. Cut the bread rolls with a nice long longitudinal slit
  2. Add lashings of butter
  3. Add the roquette
  4. Add the shredded chicken and stuffing and best of all the skin
  5. Add a line of dijon mustard and some pepper
 

 

Wholemeal and quinoa pane di casa
Wholemeal and quinoa pane di casa
Wholemeal and quinoa pane di casa with lashings of butter
Wholemeal and quinoa pane di casa with lashings of butter
Wholemeal and quinoa pane di casa with lashings of butter and a layer of roquette
Wholemeal and quinoa pane di casa with lashings of butter and a layer of roquette
Wholemeal and quinoa pane di casa with lashings of butter and a layer of roquette topped with roast chicken and stuffing
Wholemeal and quinoa pane di casa with lashings of butter and a layer of roquette topped with roast chicken and stuffing
Wholemeal and quinoa pane di casa with lashings of butter and a layer of roquette topped with roast chicken and stuffing and a line of mustard
Wholemeal and quinoa pane di casa with lashings of butter and a layer of roquette topped with roast chicken and stuffing and a line of mustard

What could be simpler? How do you make a delicious chicken roll?

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Merry Christmas

Posted by Gary

Dear Readers

I hope you have a peaceful and safe CNY break. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Peter's Turkish delight rocky road
Peter’s Turkish delight rocky road

This is the Turkish delight rocky road my friend Peter made and which we enjoyed at last weekend’s Christmas party. 

 

If you’re driving this holiday season please do so safely. If you’re drinking alcohol please do so responsibly. If you’re smoking this holiday season please don’t. If you’re eating vast quantities of food please enjoy it knowing that exercise and a period of watching what you eat will probably be necessary early in 2015 

I’ll catch you soon with some of my food experiences this CNY break. I hope you have a great CNY break and I look forward to reading your posts and sharing more of my thoughts in 2015. 

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy new Year. 

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So what are you doing for this CNY break? What have you eaten Christmas day? If you’re in Australia will you be watching the Boxing Day test match on television and watching the start of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race?

Do you have new year’s resolutions? I have started a list which I’ll share in 2015.  

Just a hint many of the resolutions relate to improving my photography. I expect after Christmas Day I’ll also add one about losing weight too