When things go wrong.

Four years ago, I made a dish that turned out to be a bit of a disaster. I put cooked rice in the slow cooker with chicken and vegetables hoping for a nice stew with rice in it. What I got was something else entirely. To this day, it is still refereed to as chicken goop. When ever we talking about how good our meals are, the good (or bad!!) old chicken goop gets mentioned. I don’t think I will ever live down chicken goop.

I have been getting more and more out of my usual comfort zone in the kitchen lately, and it is perhaps because of my experimenting that today will always be remembered… along with chicken goop. Today consisted of many firsts. First time attempting sourdough focaccia bread. First time attempting to cook with tempeh. First time cooking and eating mushrooms. Yup, no small milestones.

I made the dough as directed ahead of time. Really, after I ended up with sticky dough up the walls, I should have known then that it wasn’t going to end well. But OHH NOO! I persisted.

After hours and hours of resting (and not that much rising) I did as instructed on the recipe and shaped my dough into focaccia loaves. See how pretty they look? I sprinkled them with the right herbs, garlic and cheese just for extra awesome. Yup, they sure did look good…

At the farmers markets we got some Tempeh. I have never had it before, nor cooked with it. I decided that as other vegetarians eat it, perhaps we should. I did everything that the girl told me to do to prepare it. I fried up some hallomi (a favourite with Joe and I) just for a treat. I also fried up some shiitake mushrooms with garlic. Oh wow, this was all looking good and smelling so great. Vegetarian heven!

I constructed myself a fantastic looking sandwich out of all the goods. I was feeling rather pleased with myself as I drizzled on the sweet chilli sauce to top it all off. Yup, awesome meal, Rhi… you are really improving as a cook…

And then I bit into it. After spitting it all back out, I pondered; How could this NOT be delicious? It all looked so good. I was in shock. Chicken goop had a challenger for the worlds worse dinner title. A serious challenger.

Let us never speak of this again…

 

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…)

 

Roast Pumpkin and Grilled Haloumi Salad

I have seen two variations of this recipe lately (The Veggie Mamma and The Gourmet Goddess), and after trying them, came up with this variation. It is certainly a winner with this family now!

Ingredients

1/3 large butternut pumpkin cut into bite size pieces
3 tomatoes cut into sixths
3 handfuls of baby spinach
1 packet haloumi cheese
handful pine nuts
splash of olive oil
drizzle of maple syrup
sprinkle of chilli flakes
teaspoon of garlic
Juice from one lemon
salt, pepper, paprika, cinnamon

Method

In a non stick oven tray mix the pumpkin and tomatoes. Add some olive oil and a good grind of salt, paprika and cinnamon and mix until all ingredients are coated with oil and seasoning / species. Cook in a moderate oven for about thirty minutes until cooked. I like mine to caramelise slightly, so leave it a little longer if you like that flavour.

Cut your haloumi into 1cm stripes and place in a heated skillet with a little olive oil. Ensure they dont stick. We like to use a grill pan to gain a smokey flavour to the cheese.

Wash your greens and set aside in a serving bowl. Add your cooked pumpkin and oven dried tomatoes and grilled haloumi.

In a cup mix your lemon juice, splash of maple syrup, add (or omit if desired) some chili flakes and garlic. Add any liquid left over from the grilled pumpkin and mixed well. Sprinkle through pine nuts, and dressing before mixing through. Serve while warm and enjoy!