Kale

Vacuum packed leftover roast lamb

Posted by Gary

One of my favourite appliances is my Sunbeam FoodSaver. How did I use it for vacuum packed leftover roast lamb? I’ll get to that later.

I’ve had my FoodSaver for many years, even back to the days in Darwin. I don’t just use it for food saving either. I use it to pack clothes for winter or summer. I have keepsakes vacuum packed. I have my Member of the Order of Australia medals vacuum packed. Why? This thing helps you save space. It also means when you put things in storage, you don’t have to worry about metals discolouring. Woolen clothes compress and when you open the packet they immediately return to their original state.

Anyway, back to the lamb. It didn’t take long to get back into my routine on returning from my Hong Kong holiday. I hit Coles on Saturday morning and did my usual grocery shopping. On top of salmon and chicken I thought I may also get some lamb in the form of a small boneless lamb shoulder roll. I picked a piece that was about 500 grams (about 1 pound).

On Saturday afternoon at about 3 pm I put the lamb roll in a baking tray and added about 1 cm (½ inch) of water along with about 100 grams of tricolour quinoa. I quartered a lemon and added a quarter to the four corners of the baking tray. I also covered the lamb with a small tin of green peppercorns. I then sealed the baking tray with aluminium (yep, American friends it’s aluminium) foil and put the tray into an oven at 120 °C (about 250 °F) for three hours.

I cut off about half the meat for dinner and put the rest into a Sunbeam FoodSaver bag and vacuum sealed it. That then went into the refrigerator.

A photograph of a plate of Slow roasted lamb shoulder with coleslaw kale and quinoa with a bottle of Bundaberg ginger beer in the background.
Slow roasted lamb shoulder with coleslaw kale and quinoa

On Sunday evening I removed the vacuum packed lamb from the refrigerator and placed it in a saucepan of boiling water. Using a thermometer to measure the water temperature, I reduced the temperature so the water was about 80 °C. I warmed up the meat for about 30 minutes and removed the meat and allowed it to rest for about five minutes. Once I could safely handle the plastic wrap with my fingers I cut it open and sliced the meat on a cutting board. I knew immediately the meat would be amazing to taste and would be so tender. It was, it was bloody amazing. I’m going to try this with beef soon and see how it goes. I’ll let you know.

Vacuum packed lamb
Vacuum packed lamb
Vacuum packed lamb
Vacuum packed lamb
A photograph of Leftover roast lamb and coleslaw with avocado with a bottle of Bundaberg ginger beer in the background.
Leftover roast lamb and coleslaw with avocado
A photograph of Roast lamb and cream cheese on Vita-Weat
Roast lamb and cream cheese on Vita-Weat

Monday Canberra Food Blogger link love

So today in the Canberra Food Blogger Facebook group the links that were shared include:

They said YES! A Review of Marley Spoon from Anna

Copper Chimney, West Row, City – Road Testing A Menu For Six from Michele

Rockpool Est.1989 from Nadia

In my kitchen January 2016, a cool place to be from Elissa

How do you pronounce quinoa?

Posted by Gary

How do you pronounce quinoa? I say KEEN-wah. I expect there are many variations. One Australian satirical blog however reckons it is officially pronounced as Wan-Ker. In a satirical dig at the superfood and its devotees this blog likened quinoa lovers with bearded hipsters in coffee joints. It’s also taken aim at kale before too.

In an act of defiance I ate quinoa and kale tonight. To enhance my left-leaning green credentials my quinoa and kale along with brown rice were part of a leftover meal (see what I did there? Recycling!). I bet you never thought you’d read “left-leaning green credentials” in a Yummy Lummy post did you? I can do satire too 

This is a photograph of my Baked salmon with leftover fried quinoa rice with kale and garlic prawns

And to further demonstrate I’m in touch with my inner self, I ate baked beans and Worcestershire sauce on toast for breakfast because you know baked beans make you fart and the more you fart the better you feel, so baked beans should be had every meal!!!

If I write fart in a blog post should I add NSFW to the title?

Baked beans with Worcestershire sauce and coffee
Baked beans with Worcestershire sauce and coffee

The real reason for tonight’s post though is to share some Canberra Food Blogger link love. Please check out these blog posts which have all been written in the last week. I like that there are a few guest posts written by Canberra Food Bloggers on other Canberra Food Blogger’s blogs! So cool.

Let’s not forget Jennifer and Little Monster Girl who is keen to help readers with art gifts for Christmas

And of course I know the real reason why you want to read this post…it’s so you can watch me eat my dinner

Do you prefer YouTube or Vimeo?

Salmon with leftover fried quinoa rice with kale and prawns from Gary Lum on Vimeo.

Baked salmon with leftover fried quinoa rice with kale and garlic prawns

So how do you pronounce quinoa?

What I ate today

Posted by Gary

After yesterday’s amazing morning with Owen Saddler at Dream Cuisine Patisserie and Café, I was on a sugar high for hours. I knew I probably should not have eaten dinner and I certainly didn’t feel like it, but I didn’t want to wake up in the middle of the night feeling hungry.

I ended up with something light. A toasted bread roll with cream cheese and sweet chilli sauce.

Cream cheese and sweet chilli sauce on toast
Cream cheese and sweet chilli sauce on toast

I woke up this morning after a sleepless night and after a couple of coffees made myself a hot breakfast.

Cheesy kale omelet with a cup of coffee

Cheese and kale omelet with coffee.
Cheese and kale omelet with coffee.

After breakfast I went for a walk around Lake Ginninderra and shot a few photographs. On the way out I noticed a notice stuck to a wall of the apartment complex I live in.

We’ve been having trouble with some of the residents shopping at the local Westfield shopping mall and bringing their groceries back with shopping trolleys and then abandoning the trolleys on the pathways around the apartment complex. The trolleys weren’t just on the footpath but also in the internal courtyard and walkways.

My neighbours in the place I rent are a mixture of people with a lot of Chinese students who attend the University of Canberra.

Trolley warning
Trolley warning
Lake Ginninderra
Lake Ginninderra
Lake Ginninderra
Lake Ginninderra
Lake Ginninderra
Lake Ginninderra

At the end of my walk I stopped at the Everbean Espresso Bar in the Westfield shopping mall. While I was there I met one of the owners, Andrew. He’s seen my Instagram feed and wanted to say hello. The coffee at Everbean Espresso Bar is also very good.

While I was there I enjoyed a nice caramel milk shake.

Caramel milk shake from Everbean Espresso Bar
Caramel milk shake from Everbean Espresso Bar

When I got home I made a simple lunch.

A smoked salmon bagel with cream cheese, raw red onion, capers, wasabi sesame seeds and sweet chilli sauce.

Smoked salmon bagel with cream cheese, capers, raw onion and wasabi sesame seeds
Smoked salmon bagel with cream cheese, capers, raw onion and wasabi sesame seeds

After ironing and watching some Star Trek I went back out to the Westfield shopping mall to get some more groceries.

For dinner I made prawns and udon noodles.

Wasabi prawns and udon noodles with kale and quinoa
Wasabi prawns and udon noodles with kale and quinoa

Wasabi prawns and udon noodles from Gary Lum on Vimeo.

Wasabi prawns and udon noodles with kale and quinoa

What did you eat today?

Fried brown rice and red quinoa with kale and flaked baked salmon

Posted by Gary
This is a photograph of Fried brown rice with red quinoa and salmon and kale
Fried brown rice with red quinoa and salmon and kale

I know these recipes are becoming a little repetitious. My aim is to partly food log what I’ve eaten and partly to build up a bank of easy go to recipes for readers who live alone and want something relatively easy to prepare and mostly quick and simple. Tonight I felt like some fried brown rice to go with my salmon.

Fried brown rice and red quinoa with quinoa and flaked baked salmon
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 Coles supermarket packet of Brown rice and red quinoa
  • 1 cup of Shredded kale
  • 1 fillet of Atlantic salmon
  • ½ cup frozen peas and corn
  • 1 tablespoon of soy sauce
  • ¼ cup raw chopped red onion
  • ¼ cup chopped parsley
  • 1 teaspoon chilli flakes
Instructions
  1. [url href=”http://bit.ly/perfectlybakedsalmon” target=”_blank”]Bake salmon[/url]
  2. Cook brown rice and red quinoa as per package instructions (cook in microwave oven for 90 seconds)
  3. In a hot frying pan add some olive oil or butter
  4. Wilt the shredded kale in the frying pan and then add the rice and quinoa
  5. Fry off until hot
  6. Add the frozen peas and corn
  7. Add the chilli flakes
  8. Add the soy sauce
  9. Turn off the heat
  10. Flake the salmon and add
  11. Add the raw red onion and chopped parsley and stir through
  12. Plate up and shoot a photograph
  13. Capture a [url href=”https://vimeo.com/145243381″ target=”_blank” rel=”nofollow”]time-lapse video[/url] while eating
  14. Wash the dishes
  15. Write the recipe
  16. Blog (verb)

Fried brown rice with red quinoa and salmon and kale from Gary Lum on Vimeo.

Fried brown rice with red quinoa and salmon and kale

For dessert I enjoyed some fresh Northern Territory (Katherine) Kensington Pride mango and some Weis’ pineapple, coconut and lime sorbet.

Pineapple, coconut and lime sorbet with fresh Kensington Pride Northern Territory mango
Pineapple, coconut and lime sorbet with fresh Kensington Pride Northern Territory mango

For lunch I had something light and sweet, viz., passionfruit

Passionfruit yoghurt
Passionfruit yoghurt

I had an awful sleep last night. I woke up at 3 am and then couldn’t get back to sleep. I really needed coffee. Do you like my new nonwork business cards?

Coffee
Coffee

I hope you had a good day. Good night 

Baked salmon with udon noodles, quinoa and kale

Posted by Gary
This is a photograph of my Baked salmon with quinoa udon noodles and kale
Baked salmon with quinoa udon noodles and kale

So I’m still doing the udon noodles thing. As I was driving home from work today I was chatting with Mum and explained the meal at XO Restaurant Narrabundah and how I made garlic prawns and bacon with udon noodles. She said she didn’t like them because they were too thick however she thought the concept of Asian bolognese was really interesting.

I had a pretty good day at work although I have a splitting headache because of my lingering persistent cough after my bout of ManFlu last week. I wasn’t really in the mood for anything fancy for dinner. I wanted something quick and easy. Given how simple it was to prepare the udon noodles from the other night and given the amount of Atlantic salmon I have the refrigerator, it was a simple decision to make some noodles with the salmon.

To bake the salmon check out my foolproof method for baking salmon.

Baked salmon with udon noodles, quinoa and kale
Recipe Type: Dinner
Cuisine: Australian
Author: [url href=”http://about.me/garydlum” target=”_blank”]Gary Lum[/url]
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 1
Ingredients
  • 90 g [url href=”http://www.hakubaku.com/en/” target=”_blank”]Hakubaku organic udon noodles[/url]
  • 100 g white uncooked quinoa
  • 1 piece Atlantic salmon with skin on
  • 1 handful of chopped kale
  • 2 teaspoons chilli flakes
  • 1 teaspoon cracked black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon Greek yoghurt
  • 100 mL light coconut milk
  • 1 tablespoon fried shallots
  • 1 tablespoon flaked almonds
Instructions
  1. [url href=”https://yummylummy.com/2015/10/23/perfectly-baked-salmon/” target=”_blank”]Bake salmon[/url]
  2. When the salmon is cooked roughly flake it
  3. Get some water boiling and add the quinoa and the udon noodles for 8 minutes
  4. At the end add in a handful of chopped kale and take off the heat
  5. Drain the noodles, quinoa and kale and then add to a hot frying pan
  6. Add flaked salmon and stir in with the Greek yoghurt, light coconut milk, fried shallots, and flaked almonds
  7. Plate up half and put the other half in a container for the refrigerator for lunch tomorrow
  8. Shoot a photograph
  9. [url href=”https://youtu.be/1iX4zrvOsik” target=”_blank”]Record a time-lapse video while eating[/url]
  10. Wash the dishes
  11. Write the recipe
  12. Blog (verb)

Do you like udon noodles?