One pizza made on Friday night has become four meals. This use of leftover pizza is how I’m approaching portion control.
One pizza, four meals
Crispy pork belly with salad
Crispy pork belly with baby beetroot, sugar snap peas, mini asparagus, fennel, red onion, parsley, goat cheese, halloumi, lime juice, olive oil, and cherry tomato salad
I bought the baby beetroot ready to serve from Coles.
I cooked the sugar snap peas and mini asparagus in boiling water and flash cooled them in ice water.
The fennel and red onion were sliced thinly with a mandolin (using the safety guard).
The halloumi was washed, dried, and fried to remove any squeakiness.
The cherry tomatoes and pork belly were cooked in a hot oven for 40 minutes.
Lunch
Breakfast
Morning walk
Weightloss
Salmon and green salad with halloumi
Inspiration for tonight’s meal again comes from NQN and my best friend (GC).
During the week, NQN posted about a green salad with broad beans, sugar snap peas, and asparagus. On the same day, GC wanted some ideas on using some halloumi.
I said I like the taste of halloumi, but the squeak on my teeth meant I didn’t eat much of it.
Ingredients
- Salmon
- Iodised salt
- Green beans
- Sugar snap peas
- Mini asparagus
- Halloumi
- Goat cheese
- Olive oil
- Lime juice
- Avocado
- Pecan nuts
- Ice
Instructions
Salmon
- Heat the oven to about 200 °C.
- Pat the surfaces of the salmon dry with absorbent kitchen paper.
- Season the salmon with salt.
- Cook the salmon in the oven for 15 minutes.
- Allow the salmon to rest for a few minutes and then flake the salmon into pieces.
Salad
- Boil some salted water in a saucepan.
- Cook the green beans in the water for about four minutes and then plunge them into iced water (Note, I haven’t removed the ends of the beans. I know it’s traditional to do this and I remember it was a job Mum would give me as a kid when I’d help her cook dinner. The reason why I don’t do it is pure laziness.).
- Cook the sugar snap peas in the boiling water for a few minutes and then plunge them into iced water.
- Cook the mini asparagus in the boiling water for a few minutes and then drop them into iced water.
- When the beans, peas, and asparagus are cool, remove them from the iced water and place them in a bowl lined with some absorbent kitchen paper to remove the excess water. Then season with salt and splash on some olive oil and lime juice.
- Slice the avocado and put it into the bowl with the beans, peas, and asparagus, and gently mix it through to exploit the antioxidation effects of the lime juice.
- Heat a skillet and add a little neutral oil (I use Queensland nut oil because it has a high vapour point and because it’s Queensland!).
- Wash the halloumi with tap water to remove the brine. Dry the halloumi with absorbent paper.
- Fry the halloumi until it forms a caramelised crust on both sides (GC mentioned the frying time might influence the amount of squeakiness on my teeth. I had planned on running an experiment with varying cooking times, but I may leave that for another day.)
- Crumble some goat cheese and add that to the salad bowl.
- Toast some pecan nuts in the oven for about 5 minutes at 200 °C. Once toasted, crack the nuts in half length-ways and then add the nuts to the salad.
- Cut the cooked halloumi into bite-sized pieces and add it along with the salmon to the salad bowl.
- Season the salad to taste and serve everything together in a bowl.
How did the salad taste?
This summer salad tasted great. It had crunch and creaminess as well as the deliciousness of the baked salmon.
What else have I eaten today?
Have a good one
Pork sausage sandwich
I love working from home on Fridays. I can cook lunch.
Ciabatta fried in a nudge of Lurpak butter, melted provolone, sliced tomato and avocado and the last pork sausage, halved and fried in butter served with mushrooms and onions.
I also had a great morning tea too.
Tonight was pizza.
Cheesy herb-infused béchamel sauce with leftover crunchy pecan roast pumpkin and pork sausage
Cheesy herb-infused béchamel sauce with leftover crunchy pecan roast pumpkin and pork sausage
Check out last night’s blog post for the recipe for the roast pumpkin.
I’ve been watching the French Cooking Academy YouTube channel, and I was keen to try a béchamel sauce with a cold roux and hot flavoured milk.
I flavoured the milk with onion, clove, bay leaf, thyme, rosemary and nutmeg.
Assuming you’ve not made a white sauce or béchamel before, it involves making a roux or a paste with equal amounts (by weight) of butter and flour.
You need to cook it on low heat and whisk it for at least 3 minutes to reduce the taste of the flour.
In this version, you allow the roux to cool. To the roux, you add hot flavoured milk and then whisk it until it thickens.
I made a thick bechamel because I wanted it to be the foundation for the pork sausage and leftover pumpkin. Using some cheese makes thickening the béchamel much easier.
Roast pumpkin and caramelised onion
For the full recipe please got to Yummy Lummy.
Here are the photographs from the post.
Kent pumpkin (quarter) 
Pecan nuts, white onion, garlic, olive oil, and brown sugar 
Diced pumpkin and sliced white onion 
Green beans (uncooked) 
Pork sausage (uncooked) 
Pork sausage, pumpkin, onion, olive oil, and brown sugar 
Roast pumpkin and caramelised onion with a pork sausage and green beans 
Roast pumpkin and caramelised onion with a pork sausage and green beans 
Roast pumpkin and caramelised onion with a pork sausage and green beans 
Unsweetened natural yoghurt with Kensington price mango and red pawpaw
Sous vide New York strip steak and fennel salad
Sous vide New York strip steak and fennel salad
Ingredients
- New York strip steak
- Iodised salt
- Queensland nut oil
- Butter
- Sherry
- Cream
- Fennel
- Red onion
- Radish
- Lime juice
- Pomegranate arils
- Coriander
- Parsley
Instructions
- Season the steak with salt.
- Vacuum seal the steak and cook in a water bath at 55 °C for 2 hours.
- Remove the steak from the bag and empty the juices into a container.
- Dry the surfaces of the steak with kitchen paper.
- Wipe the cooking surface of a cast-iron skillet with some Queensland nut oil.
- Heat a cast-iron skillet until the oil begins to smoke.
- Sear the steak on all sides and then add a nudge of butter to the skillet and baste the steak.
- Add the meat juices from the vacuum bag.
- Remove the steak from the skillet and place on a plate to rest.
- Deglaze the skillet with some cooking sherry and add some cream to make a sauce.
- Slice the fennel, red onion, and radish with a mandolin (use a safety glove to avoid significant hæmorrhage).
- Add the fennel, red onion and radish to a bowl with some lime juice and water to prevent the vegetables from oxidising.
- Drain the liquid from the bowl and place the salad vegetables into a salad bowl.
- Chop the coriander and parsley and add to the salad bowl.
- Add the pomegranate arils to the salad and toss the salad (whatever you do, do not look up toss the salad in the urban dictionary).
- Place the steak onto a dinner plate which has been warming on the water bath.
- Add the salad next to the steak.
- Spoon the sauce from the skillet over the steak.
Spaghetti with creamed spinach and steak
Spaghetti with creamed spinach and eye fillet steak
I carb loaded today, so I figured why not have some more with some spaghetti.
I have great workmates. One friend made croissants yesterday (she’s a butter fiend), and she gave me one fresh out of the oven this morning. Another friend made coconut ice which is one of my all-time favourite confectionaries.
Yes, I’m spoilt.
Ingredients
- Spaghetti
- Spinach leaves
- Garlic
- Dijon mustard
- Cream
- Leftover sous vide eye fillet steak (thinly sliced)
- Cherry tomatoes
- Leftover caramelised onions
Instructions
- Cook the spaghetti in boiling water for 7 minutes.
- Drain the spaghetti and rinse with cold water.
- Put some olive oil in a cold skillet and turn the heat on to a low setting.
- Add some sliced garlic to the oil and allow it to cook and release its flavour into the warm oil.
- Add in the spaghetti and begin to warm it up with the caramelised onions.
- Toss in the spinach leaves and allow the leaves to wilt.
- Mix through a couple of teaspoons of dijon mustard and some cream.
- Add in the sliced steak and some cherry tomatoes and keep cooking until the meat is warm.
The first mango of the season
My favourite fruit is mango.
My favourite mango is the Kensington Pride. The Kensington Pride or Bowen mango is sweet firm and never has that turpentine-like after taste.
The Kensington Pride is also never stringy or fibrous and the seed is relat small and flat.
When green, the Kensington Pride does well with curry powder too.
Sous vide eye fillet with lentils à la dijonnaise
I’ve got leftover lentils from last night and steak plus some broccolini—a pretty nice Sunday dinner on a long weekend.
Ingredients
- Eye fillet steak
- Iodised salt
- Black pepper
- Leftover lentils à la dijonnaise
- Broccolini
- Olive oil
Instructions
Steak
- Tie the eye fillet with cooks string.
- Season the steak with salt and pepper.
- Seal the steak in a vacuum bag.
- Cook sous vide (under vacuum) for 2 hours at 55 °C.
- When finished, remove the steak from the vacuum bag and dry the surfaces with absorbent kitchen paper.
- Sear the steak in a hot cast-iron skillet using high vapour point oil like Queensland nut oil or rice bran oil.
- Add a nudge of butter to the skillet and spoon the melting butter over the steak.
- Allow the steak to rest and then slice thinly with a sharp knife.
Broccolini
- Wash the broccolini in water and then rub olive oil on the heads.
- Season the broccolini with salt and then cook in an oven at 200 °C for about 20 minutes.
Leftover lentils à la dijonnaise
- With low heat, warm the leftover lentils in a skillet with the lid.
Plating up
- Spoon the lentils onto a dinner plate which has been warming on the water bath.
- Transfer slices of steak over the lentils and spoon burnt butter over the steak.
- Place the broccolini next to the steak and lentils.
