SEEDED HALLOUMI & HARISSA RAINBOW BOWL
This weekend we're packing our bags and heading to Spain to see out the rest of the month bathed in some much-needed sunshine. The UK summer never really got started - maybe it's still to come. It doesn't hurt to be hopeful does it? This will be my last post for a couple of weeks, so I'm leaving you with not only a recipe, but a book recommendation too.
A recently purchased a new cook book a few weeks ago and I can't get enough of it. It is good - really good. A Modern Way to Cook by Anna Jones, is a vegetarian cook book that echo's the way I like to cook: creating balanced, vegetable-focused meals that are nutritious, satisfying and incredibly tasty.
I've made several recipes from the book, but as so often happens, I never think to photograph the results until scrapping the last morsels from the bowl. I did however take a few quick photographs of this lovely bowl of food, the result from one of the 150-plus recipes in the book. I made a few adaptions to the original recipe owing to what I had in the kitchen cupboard.
While in Spain, we will be self-catering. We have just a 4-ring hob and a BBQ, but with the bountiful, local, seasonal produce on offer, we will I'm sure, eat like Kings. I will try to remember to make a few notes of the meals I make and hopefully share them with you here once I return.
Until then .... x
Seeded Halloumi & Harissa Rainbow Bowl
Serves 4
250g ready to eat Quinoa
coconut oil
the juice of half a lemon
a small bunch of mint
a small bunch of dill
300g cherry tomatoes
4 raw beetroots
200g rainbow chard
1 lime
1 ripe avocado
200g block of halloumi cheese
2 tbsp mixed seeds
For the dressing:
a bunch of spring onions
1 tsp runny honey
1 tbsp harissa
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
the juice of half a lemon
Empty the quinoa into a bowl and dress with the lemon juice, a drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper. Chop the mint and dill and mix through the quinoa.
Finely slice and fry the onions in a little coconut oil until just starting to brown, the scoop them into a jug and add all the other dressing ingredients. Season with salt and pepper and mix well.
Cut the tomatoes in half. Peel the beetroot and use a mandolin or some careful knife skills to slice them very finely. Remove the stalks from the chard and chop finely then shred the leaves. Put the leaves into a bowl with the lime juice and a pinch of salt and scrunch with your hands for a minute to soften them.
Cut the avocado in half and remove the stone, then, with the skin still on, use a small knife to make incisions lengthways along the avocado to form slices.
Put a frying pan on the heat and add a drop of coconut oil. Fry the chard stalk for a minute before spooning them onto a saucer and setting aside. Wipe the pan clean with a piece of kitchen paper.
Place the frying pan back on the stove and heat. Slice the halloumi thinly. Have your seeds standing by. Put the halloumi into the hot dry pan and cook until brown on one side, which will take about a minute, then flip it over and brown the other side. Scatter over the seeds and turn the halloumi in the pan until it is coated with them. Take off the heat.
Serve the quinoa in bowls, topped with all the rainbow vegetables, the seeded halloumi and generous spoonfuls of the harissa dressing.