Tried & tested: Cooking frozen salmon in the microwave

I got the idea for this when I bought this prepacked salmon, complete with herbs and cherry tomatoes and butter and all. It's frozen -- all you need to do is pop it into the microwave for 4 or 5 mins and viola! It's ready to eat. 

After I tried it, I thought: I'm sure I could make my own. If salmon can be microwaved without thawing first, I can buy my own salmon slices, marinade them, then freeze them... and when I want to eat them, I can just take one out and microwave it, and it should work the same way. 

Well, I'm happy to announce that it did work the same way 😂

Microwaved frozen salmon

Marinade salmon fillet with salt/light soy sauce, pepper, and a dash of Worcestershire sauce. Chuck into freezer. 

When you need a quick meal, take salmon out of freezer, rub rosemary powder and dill flakes onto the frozen fillet, and place in a microwave-safe dish. No need to defrost!!

Place a cube from of a stick of garlic & herb butter on top of the salmon fillet. Pop in the microwave on medium heat for 2 minutes. 

Turn over and microwave on medium heat for another 1.5 mins (depends on the thickness of the fillet). 

Yes, there is such a thing as too much cheese

I made quiche again yesterday and this time I discovered that you can definitely have too much cheese in a dish, something which I did not believe before 🤣 So it is overly salty and the cheese taste is overwhelming. Oh well... still edible, as Em says, but this will teach me not to be greedy lol. 

I don't actually measure out my ingredients except for the 6 large eggs. I go by packs -- one pack of mushrooms, one-and-a-half packs of baby spinach leaves -- I put in nearly two packs of cheese, so now I know one pack should be sufficient. 

And I forgot to layer the container with baking paper first because I was so focused on putting down my layers of ingredients. Luckily it's glass and therefore should be easy to wash. If metal, once any melted cheese gets stuck to it in the baking process, that would be a pain and a half. 

Microwave cooking: Quick & easy

Tonight I nuked some bacon bits in the microwave for 50 seconds (I put them in together with the dinner roll buns -- both were from the fridge -- nuked the buns for 20 seconds to warm them up, then took the buns out and decided the bacon bits probably needed a bit more cooking, so popped them back in for another 30 seconds). Added the bacon bits to the sandwich that I assembled with mayonnaise, streaky beef brisket cold cut, and lettuce leaves. It was super tasty! 10/10 will do again, maybe without the streaky beef. I usually add dill pickles to my sandwiches also, but left them out this time.

Two nights ago I learnt that you can microwave salmon and cook it super fast and easy that way, even if it is frozen salmon. Win! 

I don't like cooking that requires a lot of prep (chopping vegetables, etc) and a lot of steps. But I also need to eat reasonably balanced and nutritious meals. During MCO I learnt that you can microwave broccoli with 3 tbsp of water for 4 mins, toss with butter and serve, and it is delicious! I would eat a whole head of broccoli a day (as part of my lunch) to fulfil my daily fibre quota. 

I love my microwave... it's the most used appliance in my kitchen 🥰 I love that clean-up is minimal and I don't need to stand over a hot stove and watch the food to make sure it doesn't boil over or get charred or whatever else that can go wrong with stove-top cooking. 

I think I have read too many romance novels

Can we talk romance plotlines for a second? The billionaire wants a kid but he wants to conceive it the old-fashioned way... Which billionaire would leave that much up to chance? You could end up having sex for years with no baby to show for it! He's much more likely to opt for IVF imo. Extract the eggs, provide the sperm, pay the lab guys to ensure there's a viable embryo, and then get her to carry the baby to term and give birth. He has all the money, he can afford IVF. He'll want to ensure he gets the kid he needs in order to secure his inheritance or whatever. 

Speaking of which, I always wondered if those types of clauses in the grandfather's will could be enforced. You know the ones: grandfather requires grandson to be married within six months in order to inherit, or all the money and other assets will be donated to charity. Surely this could be challenged in court. It seems absolutely bonkers to me. It's not like the assets are held in a trust; that would be different, the trustees would have to abide by the parameters of the trust but when it's just a stipulation in the will, can it be upheld? 

And finally, the trope where "I hate her, so to get my revenge against her, I'll force her to marry me." Err hello are you thinking quite clearly? You hate her but you want to legally tie yourself to her and see her face across the breakfast table every morning? What??? I think it's more that you hate yourself. You might need therapy, boyo.

Crustless quiche

I generally don't like cooking, especially over a stove with open flame (very hot ok! Perimenopause is making me hot enough!). So I like short-cuts and easy recipes with very few steps. 

I also really love eggs. 

Recently, I ordered mini quiches from a friend who's between jobs and was baking as a way to make some money. Then I remembered that quiches are -- theoretically -- pretty simple to make. 

So I looked up a bunch of recipes and compared them, watched some YouTube, and then decided how I wanted to make this quiche. The game changer for me is baking it in an oven-safe borosilicate glass container (1.5L). Why? Because once the quiche cooled, I could pop the lid onto the container and shove it into the fridge for easy storage! Who says quiches always have to be baked in a round pie dish or round pan? 

Also, I opted for a crustless quiche because that removed one step from the preparation process, even though I could have used frozen pie crust or frozen puff pastry. And I decided to leave the ingredients as layers instead of stirring them up in the egg & milk mixture.

The quiche turned out super yummy and I was very pleased with myself! Very easy to assemble and make. 

Crustless quiche 

• 200g shredded cheese (I used a bag of Emborg "3 cheese bake", which is a mix of mozzarella, gouda, and red cheddar)
• 150g sliced shiitake mushrooms
• 100g baby spinach leaves
• Bacon bits
• 6 large eggs
• 250ml (1 cup) milk

Preheat oven 180°C

1. Slice the shiitake mushrooms. Place in bowl with two or three tablespoons of water. Microwave 1.5 mins then stir, then microwave another 2 min (adjust time depending on how much mushrooms you use)
2. Line the 1.5L borosilicate glass container with baking paper
3. Place ingredients in the container. First layer: Baby spinach leaves
4. Second layer: Mushrooms
5. Third layer: bacon bits
6. Fourth layer: Baby spinach leaves (actually you can put just one layer of spinach, but I wanted to have 2 cos I wanted more fibre)
7. Sprinkle the shredded cheese on top
8. In a separate bowl, whisk 6 large eggs & 250ml (1 cup) of milk. Add pepper and if you have mustard, a dollop of mustard. (I didn't add salt because the bacon bits were salty, but if you omit bacon then add salt to the egg & milk mixture as well)
9. Pour the eggs & milk mixture into the borosilicate glass container with all your layers. Give a little shake to help the mixture to settle
10. Bake at 180°C for 35-45 mins (depends on your oven and how many eggs you used)