Chicken Maryland

What I ate this week

Posted 2016-05-08 by Gary

In the last week I have really eaten quite a lot. I won’t go through every meal but just the ones that I have photographs for.

Last Sunday I turned 51 and I bought a cake to celebrate.

Big Boy from Ricardo's Cafe and Patisserie — Big Boy from Ricardo’s Cafe and Patisserie

This is from Ricardo’s Cafe and Patisserie in the Jamison Plaza shops. This is known as the Big Boy. It’s slightly larger than a softball but the crispy nutty chocolate shell contains a rich chocolate mousse. It was delicious.

Readers who follow me on other social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter will have noticed that my lunch photographs have taken on an artistic background in the last week. I found an old 2008 calendar and thought it would make a nice backdrop. It’s quite large and it has some interesting subject matter.

Because my leftover meals tend to look ‘beige’ as some friends say (meaning bland and unappealing) I’ve been experimenting with black and white.

Monday lunch was leftover lamb forequarter chops

Monday dinner was baked salmon

Tuesday breakfast was fried eggs and cheese

Tuesday morning coffee from Urban Bean Espresso Bar

Tuesday lunch was leftover chicken giblet congee

Leftover chicken giblet congee with black fungus and an artistic background. Where is that hand going?

Tuesday afternoon tea

Tuesday dinner was baked salmon and crunchy rice

Wednesday lunch was leftover forequarter lamb chops

Leftover slow cooker lamb forequarter chops with potatoes and quinoa rice

Wednesday dinner was Chicken Maryland and crunchy rice

Chicken Maryland with crunchy quinoa rice, avocado, Brussels sprouts and cheesy potato gems

Thursday breakfast was a Snickers bar. I had a 6 am teleconference.

Thursday lunch was leftover slow cooker beef

Leftover slow cooker beef and vegetables

Thursday afternoon tea was charity chocolate

Turkish delight and picnic chocolate on my keyboard

Thursday dinner was Chicken Maryland with crunchy noodles

Baked cheesy Chicken Maryland with crunchy noodles and cheesy potato gems

Friday breakfast was a cheese and spring onion omelet

Friday lunch wasn’t leftovers. Normally on Fridays I work in ACT Pathology at The Canberra Hospital. This Friday though we had senate budget estimates so I had to be at my regular job. I ended up driving to Parliament House twice and didn’t get asked anything which I’m not unhappy about. I’ve had a bit to say over the last couple of estimates hearings and gave evidence at a senate inquiry hearing towards the end of April. So for Friday lunch I splurged a bit and enjoyed a Pork belly cheeseburger with a really nice jalapeño aioli from Urban Bean Espresso Bar.

Pork belly with Jalapeño aioli cheese burger and chips from Urban Bean Espresso Bar

Friday dinner was a simple affair. The Australian Kangaroos were playing a rugby league test match against the New Zealand Kiwis so I needed some footy food. In the end I went to Coles and bought a couple of beef and mushroom meat pies for dinner. I used Adobe Photoshop to create the Green and Gold background in support of the Australian team which contained most of what I hope are the Queensland team for this year’s State of Origin series.

Saturday breakfast was in the QANTAS club at the Canberra International Airport. I went with a slice of rain toast, a glass of tomato juice and a small latte.

The flight to Brisbane was pretty smooth. I ended up in an armrest battle. Have you had one of those?

I ended up eating second breakfast!

I flew to Brisbane for my eldest daughter’s twenty-first birthday. Ms21 is a qualified event planner/manager so we had a really nice party with family and her friends.

Mum and Dad took me out to lunch to Portabella Restaurant to celebrate my birthday from last week. We also had Ms18 and Miss15 with us too. Ms18 is now Ms19 so it was a celebration for her too. Yes, my two eldest daughters were born on the same day.

I was going to asked for the pork belly or the lamb shank but the fish of the day was a wild caught fresh north Queensland barramundi. My mouth started to salivate.

Crispy skin barramundi with duck fat sauteed potatoes

It wasn’t what I was hoping for. The skin was crispy. The duck fat sautéed potatoes were nice. It looked nice but the barra wasn’t pleasant to eat. It wasn’t moist and flaky. It was spongy and bits clung to the teeth. Barramundi can be difficult to cook, it is bad undercooked and easy to overcook. I suppose having lived in the Top End for nearly 12 years I was spoilt. I’ll know next time to ask for something else like the pork or the lamb.

For afternoon tea I had a vanilla slice

For Saturday evening we celebrated Ms20’s 21st birthday. No food photographs sorry but here are some photographs from the evening.

Chinese Lantern made by the birthday girl

Sunday Mother’s day breakfast at Groove Train Chermside

The hearty vegetarian always a good choice and better when Mum gave me some bacon from her Eggs Benedict.

I hope you had a good week!

Delicious Chicken Maryland and crispy ramen noodles

Posted 2016-04-27 by Gary

This is how to prepare and cook delicious Chicken Maryland and crispy ramen noodles for dinner. This is tasty chicken with great mouthfeel.

Baked cheesy Chicken Maryland with crispy ramen noodles. *You can click on this image for a higher resolution version.*

Noodles are great aren’t they? I love frying noodles so they are crisp. One of my favourite things is 2 minute noodles cooked, drained and then fried in butter.

Tonight I prepared some ramen noodles and then roasted them with the Chicken Maryland for a really nice crispy texture.

Delicious Chicken Maryland and crispy ramen noodles

Recipe Type: Dinner

Cuisine: Australian

Author: [url href=”http://garylum.me” target=”_blank”]Gary Lum[/url]

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 1 hour 20 mins

Total time: 1 hour 25 mins

Serves: 1

Ingredients

Chicken Maryland
Ramen noodles
Frozen peas, carrots and corn
Brussels sprouts
Grated Coon cheese

Instructions

Cook the ramen noodles and Brussels sprouts in boiling water for 4 minutes
Drain the noodles and Brussels sprouts and then lay onto a tray lined with baking paper
Add a handful of frozen vegetables and a little grated cheese
Lay the Chicken Maryland over the noodles and vegetables
Add some cheese over the chicken and season with salt and pepper
Cook in an oven at 180 °C (fan forced) for 1 hour
Allow the Chicken, noodles and vegetables to rest for 15 minutes
Serve on a plate
Shoot a photograph
Eat the meal
Wash the dishes
Write the recipe
Blog (verb)

The chicken looks a little overdone but that’s just the cheese. The flesh was moist and tender. The skin was crispy and nicely salted with a cheesy crispness. The ramen noodles were fantastic. I highly recommend this approach for a great tasting meal.

My version of quinoa chicken fat risotto

Posted 2016-03-27 by Gary

Chicken Maryland and chicken beef chilli Yumottto

My version of quinoa chicken fat risotto is not really a risotto at all. In many ways it’s more like a congee but I was inspired to call it a risotto after an old friend from the Northern Territory sent me a text message over the weekend about the NRL.

Anthony Draper is a medical laboratory scientist who now works as an Australian Food Network (OzFoodNet) epidemiologist in Darwin. I met Drapes (as he is known) when he began in Katherine at the Katherine Hospital. We had a small pathology laboratory there and when I used to visit as the supervising pathologist we would always make a thing of morning tea and lunch. I even went to the extent of buying them a large George Foreman grill so we could enjoy barbecued meats and other treats. Even one of our vegetarian colleagues happily made tofu kebabs and grilled them. Anyway one of Drapes’ special treats was what he named Drapotto, a dish named after himself. Drapotto was made with rice and a lot of cheese and made in a microwave oven. My understanding of risotto and those who specialise in the preparation of fine cuisine is that a microwave oven is anathema.

So tonight as I make Yumotto I salute my mate Drapes and Drapotto.

My version of quinoa chicken fat risotto

Recipe Type: Dinner

Cuisine: Australian

Author: [url href=”http://garylum.me” target=”_blank” rel=”nofollow”]Gary Lum[/url]

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 1 hour

Total time: 1 hour 10 mins

Serves: 1

Ingredients

Chicken Maryland
Chives
Parsley
[url href=”https://yummylummy.com/2016/03/26/succulent-slow-roasted-rib-eye-beef/” target=”_blank”]Cooked quinoa rice[/url]
Coon cheese
Chilli diced

Instructions

The recipe relies on previously cooked quinoa rice
Check out the recipe for [url href=”https://yummylummy.com/2016/03/26/succulent-slow-roasted-rib-eye-beef/” target=”_blank”]roast beef[/url] from last night
In a pyrex bowl lined with baking paper add the cold but cooked quinoa rice that has absorbed a huge amount of beef fat
Add some water to the quinoa rice
Overlay the quinoa rice with a Chicken Maryland piece
Cook for 1 hour at 175 °C
When cooked fork through the quinoa rice and add the [url href=”http://coon.com.au/” target=”_blank” rel=”nofollow”]Coon cheese[/url]
Stir until it has the consistency of risotto
Plate up
Shoot a photograph
Eat the meal of chicken Yumotto
Wash the dishes
Write the recipe
Blog (verb)

If you click on the photograph below a Flikr album will open which you can scroll through.

For breakfast I enjoyed a hot cross bun with butter, peanut paste and ginger marmalde

Before lunch I went for a walk around Lake Ginninderra. I had some fun with the free Nik software from Google which I downloaded yesterday. If you click on the photograph below a Flikr album will open which you can scroll through.

For lunch I made a Garlo’s beef and mushroom meat pie with blue cheese, Worcestershire sauce, tomato sauce and Coon cheese. If you click on the photograph below a Flikr album will open which you can scroll through.

Crunchy rice

Posted 2016-03-09 by Gary

Gary Lum Grilled cheese baked Chicken Maryland with sweet corn and crunchy quinoa rice — Grilled cheese baked Chicken Maryland with sweet corn and crunchy quinoa rice

Do you like crunchy rice?

You know when you fry some rice and you take it a little too far and the rice gets a little crunchy? I love that. I love the texture. I love the mouthfeel. It’s great when the rice is also with a nice meal full of nice flavours and other textures.

Last night I made some quinoa rice to have with my baked salmon and sugar snap peas.

Gary Lum Baked honey soy skinless salmon with quinoa rice and sugar snap peas — Baked honey soy skinless salmon with quinoa rice and sugar snap peas

I used the leftover quinoa rice tonight when I baked my grilled cheese Chicken Maryland pieces. I basically spread the rice onto some baking paper on a baking tray and covered the rice with the chicken pieces. On top of the chicken pieces I laid a couple of slices of Colby cheese. I then baked this in an oven at 150 °C for 1 hour. At the end of the cooking I let the chicken rest for 20 minutes. Cooking the chicken on the quinoa rice meant the rice absorbed all the fatty juices from the chicken.

The result was a nice layer of crunchy rice with crispy cheesy skinned Chicken Maryland. I also served the meal with a cob of sweetcorn which I baked in the oven wrapped in some aluminum foil.

How to cook Chicken Maryland

Posted 2016-02-06 by Gary

How to cook Chicken Maryland? My most popular posts are about Chicken Maryland. It’s my favourite piece of the chicken for it contains the cloaca which when roasted is full of fatty goodness.

One of the best methods on how to cook chicken Maryland is to roast it covered in cheese to produce a cheesy crusty crispy skin.

One of the best things about cooking chicken is that the fat from it makes quinoa taste delicious.

In the follow photographs you’ll see how to cook Chicken Maryland.

How to cook Chicken Maryland

Recipe Type: Dinner

Cuisine: Australian

Author: [url href=”http://garylum.me” target=”_blank”]Gary Lum[/url]

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 1 hour

Total time: 1 hour 10 mins

Serves: 1

Ingredients

Chicken Maryland
Colby cheese slices
Beetroot coleslaw
Red quinoa
White quinoa
Chives
Parsley

Instructions

In a pyrex bowl add 1 cm of water and then add some red and white quinoa
Lay a rack over the water to support the chicken
Put the chicken on the rack and season with salt and pepper
Add a couple of Colby cheese slices on the chicken and add some cracked black pepper
Cook in an oven at 150 °C for 1 hour
Allow the chicken to rest for 20 minutes and prepare the salad
Add the quinoa and some of the chicken fat to the salad and mix
Plate up and shoot a photograph
Eat the meal
Write the recipe
Wash the dishes
Blog (verb)