Lunch

Grilled cheese sandwich with avocado, salami, jam, red onion, Coon™ mozzarella and Colby cheeses

Introduction

Yesterday I posted about a salami and Vegemite sandwich after a conversation with my friend GC and our speculation on sandwich combinations.

Have you ever had a turkey and cranberry sandwich? I really like the combination of turkey and cranberry. I’ve also enjoyed ham and jam before but I’ve never had salami and jam.

I’m a big fan of jam combinations. One of my favourite jam combinations is orange marmalade, peanut paste, and sliced banana.

Turkish bread roll with Lurpak butter, jam, salami, Coon™ mozzarella and Colby cheeses and avocado sandwich. Diagonal cut.

Cheesy Vegemite Toastie with salami, red onion, tomato, and mozzarella and Colby cheeses with a crispy mayonnaise lubricated crust

Trying to be healthful albeit with streaky bacon

I worked from home today. While on teleconferences I cooked lunch. It was mostly vegetables, but there was some streaky bacon too.

Pan-fried mayonnaise browned sourdough with pâté, blue cheese and tomato, with further lubrication from Lurpak butter

This sandwich made working from home better. My Sunday sandwich. Pan-fried mayonnaise browned sourdough with pâté, blue cheese and tomato, with further lubrication from Lurpak butter.

I was chatting (by text) with a friend yesterday and we found out we both liked the movie Chef which features Jon Favreau, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Dustin Hoffman, and Sofia Vergara.

It got me inspired (thanks to GC) to make a sandwich while I participated in teleconferences while working from home on a Sunday.

I still had some leftover pâté, blue cheese, and sourdough bread and I thought with a bit of extra lubrication (again thanks GC 😉) from Lurpak butter on the inside and using mayonnaise as a browning agent on the outside I’d make a fabulous sandwich.

Making working from home better. Sunday sandwich. Pan-fried mayonnaise browned sourdough with pâté, blue cheese and tomato, with further lubrication from Lurpak butter. #covidlife #stayhome #workfromhome

Simple surf’n’turf

It’s Anzac day. I did my grocery shopping in the afternoon and spied some steak and prawns and thought “I’ll have that for dinner”.

Pan-fried surf'n'turf. Steak and prawns with coleslaw. — Pan-fried surf’n’turf. Steak and prawns with coleslaw.

Curry red cabbage with sous vide duck breast

Easter 2020 has seen a bit of weight gain with all the carbs in the form of hot cross buns and chocolate.

Ingredients

Duck breast
Iodised salt
Red cabbage
Chicken stock
Coconut cream
Curry powder
Lime juice
Whole black peppercorns

Instructions

Remove two breasts from the packaging.
Rub some iodised salt over the skin of your breasts.
Place your breasts into plastic bags and vacuum seal them.
Put one of your breasts in the freezer to enjoy on another day.
Heat up your water bath to 55 °C and then insert your breast for 1 hour.
At the end of 1 hour remove your breast from the water bath and put it into the refrigerator to cool down.
Chop up a red cabbage.
Put the red cabbage into a large saucepan and add a litre of chicken stock and bring the cabbage and stock to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes.
Drain the cabbage and put into a frying pan and cook to evaporate much of the moisture.
Add a can of coconut cream and a couple of tablespoons of curry powder.
Bring the cabbage and coconut cream to a simmer.
Remove your cooled breast from the refrigerator and remove your breast from the vacuum bag.
With a really sharp knife (I use my Dick-brand butchers knife) slice your breast thinly and add to the frying pan with the red cabbage and coconut cream which is reducing.
Add the juice of one lemon to the curry red cabbage and duck and stir through.
Turn off the heat and transfer the curry cabbage and duck to a bowl and season with whole black peppercorns which has been ground in a mortar with a pestle.
Eat with chopsticks.

Fresh duck breasts in vacuum bags. Pre-vacuum.

Fresh duck breasts in vacuum bags. Post-vacuum.

Anova precision cooker and sous vide water bath.

Sous vide duck breast in a vacuum bag. Post-cook.

Curry Red cabbage with sous vide duck breast.

Breakfast

Happy Easter. Steamed egg and wilted spinach.

Morning tea Darrell Lea Rocklea Road Easter Bunny and a coffee

Happy Easter with a Darrell Lea Rocklea Road Easter bunny.

Tinned Mackeral and tinned smoked oysters with smoked cheddar and triple cream brie. — Tinned Mackerel and tinned smoked oysters with smoked cheddar and triple cream brie.

Afternoon tea

Earl Grey Tea and Zero teapot. National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre teacup.

Good Friday beef cheeks

It feels like an age since I last wrote here on Random Yummy. I think it’s been longer on Yummy Lummy. I even missed last week on What I think, eat, listen to, and watch each week (the diary blog).

It’s Good Friday and I’ve been working from home writing papers and answering questions and trying to add some value to my current work commitments.

Unlike the accepted wisdom, I don’t usually have fish on Good Friday, I have red meat, specifically, beef.

Slow cooker beef cheeks with potato mash and gravy served with peas and corn. Gary Lum. — Slow cooker beef cheeks with potato mash and gravy served with peas and corn.

While I was working I had the beef cheeks in the slow cooker.

Recipe

Ingredients

Beef cheeks
White onion
Carrot
Celery
Red wine
Beef stock
Whole black peppercorns
Potatoes
Butter
Cream
Peas
Corn
Capsicum

Instructions

Unwrap the beef cheeks from the plastic packaging.
Heat up a frying pan and sear the beef cheeks to get a good caramelisation on all the surfaces.
After searing the beef cheeks, move the cheeks to a plate and add some chopped onion to the frying pan to sweat.
While the onions are sweating, slice some carrot and celery and then add the carrot and celery to the sweating onions.
Cook the onions, celery, and carrot until each has soften.
Deglase the frying pan with some red wine and beef stock.
Add the onions, carrot, and celery to the cooking vessel of the slow cooker.
Pour in the red wine and beef stock.
Add the seared beef cheeks to the slow cooker cooking vessel.
Seal the lid of the slow cooker and cook for six (6) hours.
When the six (6) hours of complete, remove the beef cheeks to a plate and then decant the cooking juices to a saucepan.
Bring the cooking juices to simmer and puree with a stick blender.
Reduce the sauce to a thick gravy.
Add some cream and then butter to finish the gravy.
Make potato mash by boiling potatoes and then mashing them with iodised salt and butter.
Cook some frozen peas, corn, and capsicum in a frying pan until soft.
Add the potato mash to a dinner plate and add the peas, corn, and capsicum next to the potato.
Lay a beef cheek on the potato mash and pour over some of the gravy.
Grind the whole black peppercorns in a mortar with a pestle and season the potato mash, beef cheeks, and vegetables.