Lunch

Toasted provolone and pickled onion cheeses with pepperoni on pumpkin bread with lashings of butter

#covidlife #workfromhome

On Fridays I’ve been working from home and participating in teleconferences through the day.

Toasted provolone and pickled onion cheeses with pepperoni on pumpkin bread with lashings of butter

Provolone piccante, salami and pepperoni grilled cheese toastie

#covidlife #workfromhome

My Italian friend, GC, has again hit a six. She uses provolone cheese on her toasties (also known as grilled cheese sandwich for North American readers). GC recommended I combine the cheese with some spicy cured meats. I’ve never tried provolone as far as I know. I went to the Belco markets and found some provolone piccante at the deli. GC explained the piccante has more bite than the dolce. Indeed, this cheese is bitey. I like it. This is a fantastic sandwich. I highly recommend it. Thanks, GC 🤤😃👍

This working from home gig on Fridays is going well.

Provolone piccante, spicy salami and pepperoni with pane di casa.

Coles southern fried chicken and homemade coleslaw grilled cheese sandwich

#covidlife #workfromhome

Doing teleconferences from home today.

This sandwich is the bomb. I mentioned this as an option last night when I cooked a piece of Coles southern fried chicken thigh.

Coles southern fried chicken and homemade coleslaw grilled cheese sandwich

Bondage sandwich

I'm still working from home on Fridays and participating in teleconferences during my lunch period.

I present to you the bondage sandwich. No this is not some fetish or BDSM thing.

Have you ever had the embarrassing situation of cooking a grilled cheese sandwich or what we prefer to call in Australia, a toasted sandwich (also known as a “toastie“) and the top half sliding off and spoiling its structure?

Even in a sandwich press this can happen, so unless you’re using an old fashioned jaffle iron, the slippage problem is an ever present danger.

Butchers or cooking twine is an easy solution to bind the sandwich to ensure structural integrity while it cooks.

Italian bread with Mersey Valley pickled onion cheese, sliced tomato, and smashed avocado bound with cooking twine

Italian bread with Mersey Valley pickled onion cheese, sliced tomato, and smashed avocado bound with cooking twine being grilled in a cast iron skillet on an induction hob — Italian bread with Mersey Valley pickled onion cheese, sliced tomato, and smashed avocado bound with cooking twine being grilled in a cast-iron skillet on an induction hob

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.