Flat sourdough bread sandwiches

This morning, Joe decided we should go to the farmers markets instead of our usual morning walk – in the interest of good eating, he assured me. I am always keen for an excursion to the markets, so humbly agreed to his suggestion – in the interest of good eating, of course.

You may remember recently I blogged about  Nimbin Valley Dairys Lemon Billy Goats Cheese during my Fig and Goat Cheese Tart post. The deliciousness of that product whetted my appetite for more so I was keen to make my next purchase. This time I came back with some of their delicious Illian Feta cheese. I also had the great fortune of purchasing some gorgeous fresh Summerland Olives. Today I opted for something new and purchased some manzanolli olives instead of my usual kalamata. I also purchased a gorgeous roast capsicum dish made that morning by a local vendor from market produce. All in all, a fantastic excursion, as you would expect.

And so it is that the universe acts to balance the good of the morning with a *kind* of failure… I *may* have misread my recipe and made a slight error with my bread. Never mind, I was able to save the “rolls” and turn it into a delicious, crunch flat bread. I was able to cover up the mistake by loads of awesome fresh produce and some home-made hummus. I shall speak of it no more, other than to say it was a delicious failure!

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My humble garden

We live in a moderately sized regional town on the northern New South Wales coast of Australia. Our town boasts being the most easterly point of the mainland (at low tide) but Byron Bay, 30 km to the north is the widely accepted most easterly mainland point. We live in a small two bedroom apartment on the first floor. Our apartment block is situated on one of the busiest highways in Australia. A bypass for our town was opened in December last year, which thankfully has had a noticeable decrease to noise and pollution. Living in a small apartment means we have no real recreational space or garden, but we do have a sensational north facing balcony. All in all, I love where we live.

You may have caught my weekly photo challenge earlier this week. It was a photo of my garden. I’ve had to adapt to the lack of space and on mothers day last year, I started my humble little garden. It consists of used second-hand polystyrene boxes commonly used for transporting broccoli. We punched holes in the bottom of the boxes to ensure that there was good drainage. In the bottom of each box, I placed a few sheets of newspaper to stop the soil falling out. We purchased some cheap’ish potting mix from a department store and the rest is history!

Aided by the Gardenate Garden Calender which tells me what to plant at what times of the year, our veggie garden has become a reality. Last year we harvested bok choy, all manner of herbs, leeks, tomatoes, salad greens, and more. I have just planted our winter crops which I water daily. The baby leeks in my banner photo are actually from my garden! I have just planted our winter crop and soon we will be feasting on leeks, tomatoes, herbs (thyme, rosemary, parsley, oregano), pak choy, pumpkins, salad greens, broad (fava) beans and capsicums. As a promise of things to come, my heirloom tomatoes produced four beautiful tomatoes ahead of schedule, one of which we picked today!

Stay tuned to this space… I hope to post some photos over time of how my organic crop matures!

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Warm Chickpea, Roasted Mediterranean Vegetables and Halloumi Salad

I remember many years ago spending some time at a dear friends home in Sydney while on holidays. As MJ’s tastes run to the more savoury side of things, her fridge was often an adventure in its own right full of amazing wonders. On this one particular morning, she fried up some Halloumi for our breakfast and as they say in the record books; the rest was history.

Halloumi is a semi hard cheese that is made of cows, goats and cows milk and originated in Cyprus. It is flavoured with a little mint (that in some brands is hardly even detectable), and uses non animal rennet making it safe for vegetarian consumption. Its high melting point makes it perfect for frying, and when served in this way, its slightly rubbery texture adds something amazing to the most simplest of dishes. As it is stored in brine, it has a strong salty taste; the use of additional salt should be limited.

[  SERVES: 2  |  TIME: 45MIN  |  COST: $5 - 8  ]

Ingredients

180g packet of halloumi
2 large handfuls salad greens
1 cup dried chickpeas
2 cups of water
1 continental eggplant
1 zucchini
1 punnet cherry tomatoes
½ red capsicum
sprinkle toasted nuts
drizzle of olive oil
salt and pepper

Method

1. Add the water to the dried chickpeas and soak overnight (or a minimum of 4 hours). Boil for 15 minutes, drain and set aside.
2. Dice all the vegetables into bite size pieces. Place into a baking tray with a drizzle of oil, seasoning  and mix well. Bake in at 180°C for 30 minutes.
3. Slice the halloumi into 1 – 2 cm wide peices and fry in a warm saucepan until golden brown. Set aside.
4. To assemble your salad on a plate, start with a good handful of washed salad greens. Layer with the warm roasted vegetables, chickpeas and halloumi. Garnish with the toasted nuts and a drizzle of any left over juices from the roasted vegetables. Serve immediately.

Observations

• Sooooooooo delicious! And so easy. The textures of this dish were perfect!
• We used a mixture of rocket and baby spinach for our salad greens. They worked well with the other flavours.
• We used a mixture of pine nuts and almond slivers toasted lightly in a frying pan for our garnish. The crunch and flavour of the nuts adds something fantastic to salads, and should not be over looked. Try it, and see for yourself!
• 250g of halloumi is enough for four people, so dont worry about getting a larger size. We were just hungry beasts tonight!
• Diabetic Note: No problems here, although, be careful with the oil. If you are worried about the lack of carbs in this dish, add a slice of bread to mop your plate with!
• Ethical Note: On the plus side, halloumi uses non animal rennet. Be careful of where your product is made, however. Upon closer inspection of the label tonight, I realised that my favourite brand is a product of Cyprus. I had always assumed that it was an Australian product because of the Australian address on the packaging. Check the fine print! (And, if you will excuse me, I must now find a new brand. The carbon miles for a cheese from Cyprus make it a little too unethical for my tastes…)