Category: Lunch

Canberra Day Australian Spam “Musubi”

Pan-fried Spam with melted Mozzarella on a Coles Cheesy Vegemite Scroll

Happy Canberra Day

It may surprise some people but I am not the only fan of Spam in Canberra. I have a friend who is a photographer and blogger who loves Spam. She posted on Facebook a photograph of a tin of Spam with a comment that while other commodities are flying off the shelves Spam hasn’t. I made a similar observation on the weekend too. 

Coles Cheesy Vegemite Scroll. Gary Lum.
Coles Cheesy Vegemite Scroll.
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No added salt roast pork belly and vegetables

No added salt you read. Yes, well while Yummy Lummy is not the place to share my personal health status, it’s not a secret that I have mild hypertension which is managed with medication.

Read the long version and the reason for the no added salt at Yummy Lummy.

No added salt roast pork belly and vegetables. Gary Lum.
No added salt roast pork belly and vegetables.
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Curry pork sausages with coconut cream mushroom peas corn cherry tomatoes and an avocado

TGIF. ManFlu continues and I feel like I’m living in a snot pit.

I stayed home again and worked from home.

Curry pork sausages with coconut cream mushroom peas corn cherry tomatoes and an avocado. Gary Lum.
Curry pork sausages with coconut cream mushroom peas corn cherry tomatoes and avocado.
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Oven-baked pork sausages, cauliflower, peas, and cherry tomatoes

ManFlu has hit me hard. I stayed home and worked from home while I produced and expelled copious amounts of mucus from my nose and mouth as I sneezed, coughed and cleared my nasal passages of virus-laden mucus.

I’ve consumed analgesics, oral decongestants, intranasal decongestants, and sugar in the form of chocolate.

I couldn’t be bothered sharing how I cooked my meals today. Suffice to say when I have a fever I believe in feeding a fever.

Steamed egg with melted cheese and wilted spinach. Gary Lum.
Toasted Vegemite scroll with melted cheese and pork sausage. Because when I have manflu I eat carbs. Gary Lum.
Oven-baked pork sausages, cauliflower, peas, and cherry tomatoes. Gary Lum.
Close up. Oven-baked pork sausages, cauliflower, peas, and cherry tomatoes. Gary Lum.

Pan-fried chicken thigh schnitzel in pig fat with cheese and black peppercorns ground in a mortar with a pestle

Lunch was indulgent. I bought a piece of chicken thigh schnitzel from Belconnen Chicken and pan-fried it in some leftover pig fat I had.

Pan-fried chicken thigh schnitzel in pig fat with cheese and black peppercorns ground in a mortar with a pestle. Gary Lum.
Pan-fried chicken thigh schnitzel in pig fat with cheese and black peppercorns ground in a mortar with a pestle.
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Leftover lamb, lettuce, blue cheese, and dates

On Saturday and Sunday I cooked quite a lot of mammalian meat in the form a bone in rib steak and a rolled lamb shoulder.

The great thing about weekend cooking is the leftover meat which can be used cold from the refrigerator as a source of protein for lunch.

If you’re eschewing excessive carbohydrates in the form of bread, noodles, pasta, and rice; then a little bit of meat is a good way to keep hunger at bay.

Leftover lamb shoulder with blue cheese on Cos lettuce with dates drizzled with truffle honey

Leftover lamb shoulder with blue cheese on Cos lettuce with dates drizzled with truffle honey. Gary Lum.

Rollup of lettuce, lamb, cheese, dates, and honey

Ingredients

  • Leftover slice of lamb shoulder meat
  • Cos lettuce leaf
  • Blue cheese
  • Chopped dates
  • Honey

Instructions

  1. Wash a leaf of lettuce.
  2. Dry the leaf by flicking it so you get water all over the place.
  3. Lay the slice of lamb shoulder meat on the lettuce leaf.
  4. Put some crumbly blue cheese on the meat and flatten it with your thumb to try to spread it out a bit (make sure you have clean hands and under your fingernails, you don’t want anything nasty getting on your food after you’ve been scratching about…).
  5. Press some chopped dates into the blue cheese.
  6. Drizzle some truffle honey over the meat and cheese and dates.
  7. Roll up and eat.

Public Holiday

Today is a public holiday and I’m working from home. The modern availability of broadband Internet is great. I can participate in international teleconferences and do other work without having to be in the office (and wear shoes).

It’s Monday so there will be salmon for tea while for breakfast I splurged and had two steamed eggs rather than one with my wilted spinach and melted cheese.

Two steamed eggs, melted cheese, and wilted spinach. One yolk looked like it may be overcooked but on cracking the capsule, the oozy soft yolk porn flowed... Gary Lum.

Gee, I love my steamed eggs and wilted spinach.

Pan-fried salmon, chives, and mushrooms with frozen black beans, capsicum, and corn

A cool change hit Canberra overnight. Yesterday peaked at 43 °C (109 °F) and this morning when I went for a walk, apart from the smoke haze of nearby bushfires, the air was cool.

ABS House in the smoke haze. Gary Lum.
Westfield Belconnen in the smoke haze. Gary Lum.

A hot lunch felt in order for me. I had a piece of salmon in the refrigerator and some mushrooms.

Pan-fried salmon, chives, and mushrooms with frozen black beans, capsicum, and corn

Ingredients

  • Salmon fillet (middle portion)
  • Mushrooms
  • Chives
  • Frozen black beans, capsicum, and corn
  • Queensland nut oil
  • Butter
  • Iodised salt

Instructions

  1. Heat a frypan.
  2. Squirt in a little high vapour point oil, e.g., Queensland nut oil.
  3. Chop some chives and slice some mushrooms and add them to the frypan and sauté.
  4. Wait for the mushrooms to absorb the oil and soften along with the chives.
  5. Brush some Queensland nut oil over the surfaces of the fillet of salmon.
  6. Season the skin of the salmon fillet with some iodised salt flakes.
  7. Put the salmon skin side down into the frypan.
  8. Add a small handful of the frozen black beans, capsicum, and corn to the frypan.
  9. Add a knob of butter on top of the frozen vegetables.
  10. Put a lid on the frypan. Do NOT turn down the heat.
  11. Set a timer for 5 minutes.
  12. At the end of five minutes, remove the lid and lift the salmon out of the frypan and put it on a plate.
  13. Stir and mix the vegetables in with the mushrooms and chives and then serve next to the salmon on the plate.
Pan-fried salmon, mushrooms, chives, and frozen capsicum, corn, and black beans. Gary Lum.
Pan-fried salmon, mushrooms, chives, and frozen capsicum, corn, and black beans.