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

Leftover pizza heated in a skillet with the lid on.

Breakfast

Morning walk

Scooters laying around — I’m not sure about this new piece of Public Art in Canberra

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.

Salmon and green salad with halloumi and goat cheese

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?

Morning tea. Atlas coffee and Mayvers Almond butter and a Pink Lady apple.

Leftover pizza with avocado and sour cream, served with ginger beer

Have a good one

Lake Ginninderra early this morning as the sun came up

Leftover tuna cakes with hollandaise sauce

On Sunday night I made tuna cakes and had some of the raw material leftovers. I also had some of last night’s homemade hollandaise sauce leftover.

Leftover tuna cakes and hollandaise sauce with oven-cooked asparagus and kale sprouts.

Pan-fried salmon and hollandaise sauce (formerly known as Dutch sauce) with kale sprouts and asparagus

Did you know that hollandaise sauce came from the Netherlands?

Pan-fried salmon with broccolini, asparagus, capsicum, red onion, fennel, and leftover gravy

Happy Canberra Day. It’s Monday, I have salmon for dinner.

Ingredients

Salmon fillet skin on
Broccolini
Asparagus
Red capsicum
Green capsicum
Mushroom
Red onion
Fennel
Radish
Whole black peppercorns
Queensland nut oil
Leftover gravy from last night’s tea

Instructions

Cut a couple of asparagus spears in half.
Cut a couple of broccolini stalks in half.
Slice a large mushroom.
Dice the red and green capsicum
Finely dice the red onion, radish, and fennel and mix with black peppercorns which have been ground in a mortar with a pestle.
Heat up a frying pan and begin cooking the vegetables except for the red onion, radish, and fennel and black peppercorns.
Once the vegetables are softish clear half the frying pan and add some Queensland nut oil to the pan.
Put the salmon in skin side down and put a lid on for 5 minutes.
After 5 minutes turn the salmon and cook for a further 2 minutes.
Remove the salmon to rest and add in the leftover gravy and stir through the vegetables along with the red onion, radish, and fennel and black peppercorns.
Serve everything in the frying pan on a dinner plate and add the salmon on top.