Halloumi, Lime & Rocket Spaghetti

A couple of weeks ago I featured Annabel Crabb & Wendy Sharpe's book Special Guest. I mentioned there were three recipes I wanted to try. This is one of them.

The Recipe:

HALLOUMI, LIME & ROCKET SPAGHETTI
Serves 4

I know it’s shockingly predictable for a non-meat-eater to return so often to halloumi, but it really is such a useful cheese. It’s sort of like the vegetarian peacetime equivalent of pemmican: it keeps for ages and is both tasty and easy to use. This recipe was first made for me in Canberra by my friend Zoe, who used to host viewing sessions of The West Wing for a small group of political staffers (and Jeremy and me). The staffers all loved The West Wing, but did tend to roll their eyes a bit about how unrealistic it was. A decade later, when Aaron Sorkin made The Newsroom, I finally understood their frustration. In any event, this has – ever since – been my go-to weeknight pasta when I’m pushed for time, and a popular last-minute dish for drop-ins. It’s got heat, salt, acid and pepper and a good helping of greens to make you feel a bit less gluggy. Lord, it’s delicious. I feel like a bowl of it right now.

250 g halloumi, cut into 1.5 cm dice
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons small salted capers, rinsed then drained well
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 medium or 2 small red chillies, thinly sliced
1 juicy lime
100 g wild rocket leaves
500 g dried spaghetti

First step: tip the halloumi, olive oil, capers, garlic and the chilli into a bowl and stir about. Using one of those zesters that takes off the zest in long thin strips, add the zest of the lime. (If you don’t have such a contraption, use a potato peeler to take the zest off and then cut it into thin strips, or alternatively you could do whatever you please and ignore my excessively controlling views on the subject.) Squeeze the lime and reserve the juice.

Arrange your rocket in a large serving bowl.

Cook the pasta according to its packet instructions.

Now you’re ready for the final assault. While the pasta is cooking, heat a heavy frying pan over medium heat and tip in the contents of your bowl: the halloumi will become golden, so turn the bits over regularly and keep a sharp eye on it. It’s done when all your halloumi is nicely browned. This should take about 5 minutes, so when it’s done you’ll be ready to drain your pasta. Dump the spaghetti into the pan and swirl it about to mop up every little bit of sauce. Working quickly, dress the rocket with the lime juice, then add the pasta to the bowl and give the whole lot a toss.

Serve straightaway!

My Journey with the Recipe:

I've included Crabb's entire blurb about the recipe so that you get an idea of her style and voice.

The main change I made was to skip the capers. Not a big fan of the caper; happy to eat 1 or 2, but two whole tablespoons full was more than I could cope with. I just added a little more lime (and salt & pepper) to the final dish to give it that zesty flavour.

The rest worked a treat and was a huge hit. I'll be making it again.
The meal also reheats well for lunch the next day, with a little more olive oil to moisten it.

Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking meme is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to link up anytime over the weekend.

Special Guest by Annabel Crabb and Wendy Sharpe

Now that the boys are young men, out more than in and in various stages of leaving the nest, Mr Seasons and are enjoying a renaissance in cooking and eating. Gone are the staples of pasta, burgers and roasts that dominated our life for the past decade. Back are the salads, seafood and spicy food that we love so much. And hopefully, soon, we will rediscover/reclaim our dining room table to host a dinner party once again.

I looked to Crabb and Sharpe's Special Guest: Recipes for the Happily Imperfect Host to shape these urges.

Anyone in Australia right now, would be hard put to not have seen or heard Crabb on TV, in podcasts or on the radio lately. She seems to be everywhere, cooking with politicians, going back in time, chatting about books, politics and food.

I confess that I am not one of those enamoured of her journalistic style. But I don't go out of my way to avoid her either. Hence my dip into her latest cook book.

Her voice is very distinctive and you can hear it as you read her introduction. I enjoyed her timely reminders about having fun whilst hosting and not sweating the disasters,

Cooking for people in your home isn't about showing off. It's about delighting the people you love, while also remembering to actually spend time with them, not weeping in the kitchen.

Sharpe picked up on these themes with,

The most essential ingredient for a meal with friends is not, paradoxically, the food, nor the perfect house to host in, but the sentiment that you convey to guests when you open your home and carve out some time to share with them. 

I'm not a perfectionist, but I don't live very far away from being one! Part of my lack of desire to host a dinner party in recent years, is the muddle that is our small, inner city home, full of four adult beings and their stuff. I've learnt to live with the muddle, but I don't feel like showing it off.

After reading Special Guest, I'm a little closer to letting this go.

But what about the recipes, I hear you ask?

Crabb and Sharpe have included mostly vegetarian meals with some seafood dishes. They're conscious of food inclusivity and discuss vegan, gluten-free and halal options. Many of their meals could easily include meat on the side for the omnivores in your life.

One of their handy tips was about having a few signature home made items that quickly and easily add a special touch to any meal - things like home made pesto, harissa paste, hummus or lemon infused oil.

Sadly, though, I only found three dishes, in the entire book, that I wanted to try - Halloumi, Lime & Rocket Spaghetti, Roast Mushroom Cannelloni and Glass Potatoes.

Browsing through the other options only reinforced my dislike of the big breakfast - anything more than toasted muesli, fruit and yoghurt is too much for me - and confirmed that I am happy enough to eat sweets, desserts and cakes if provided by someone else, but they are simply not things I will seek out or make myself. I'm also not a huge fan of pies, tarts or pastries, all of which featured quite heavily throughout the book.

I once heard that most people will only ever actually make 2-3 recipes out of any cook book, so with that in mind, Special Guest, is a success!

Special Guest has been longlisted for this year's Australian Book Industry Book Awards (ABIA) and the Indie Book Awards for Best Illustrated Non-fiction Book.

Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking meme is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to link up anytime over the weekend.

Keeping It Off by Michelle Bridges

Diet books by hosts of reality TV shows are not my usual fare, but in my role as editor for the General Non-Fiction page at The Australian Women Writers challenge, I'm trying to highlight all the possible types of non-fiction books out there.

Michelle Bridge's Keeping It Off has an admirable aim - to help us all be fit and healthy for our entire lives. As her starting point is the sad but true fact that most of us who lose weight while on a diet or get-fit program, will put most of it back on again within two years.

Bridge discusses how her approach to food and fitness has evolved over the years thanks to experience and research. She is no longer a pure 'calories in - calories out' advocate thanks to new research around how we all burn calories differently as well as the way environmental factors influence us. Weight loss, she claims, is a science, but keeping off is all about psychology. Bridge cites the work of Dr Katharine Samaras from St Vincent's Hospital and the Garvan Institute.

The 60-odd pages devoted to Bridge's ideas and thoughts is written in a direct, down to earth, humorous way. Unfortunately most of the photos don't have the same appeal (Mr Seasons accused me of having a 'you women are hard - you eat your own' attitude, before admitting that he also found the photos to be ghastly). Perhaps I'm just showing my age, but all those heavily made-up, photo-shopped images do nothing for me whatsoever. They don't inspire or impress. The more natural photos of Michelle exercising later in the book were better and felt more authentic.

Case studies, food plans and work-outs make up the bulk of the book. The recipes looked simple and tasty. Using the same set of ingredients, the recipes were divided into meal portions for toddlers, teens, mum and dad.

The main message though is one most of already probably know - there is no magic pill or easy fix. Keeping the weight off is a lifelong commitment to eating well and staying fit.

The trick is to find the way that works for you.

Keeping It Off has kick-started my annual spring 'let's get fit and healthy' spree. That's a good thing. Ultimately, though, Bridge's book will probably not inspire me long term. Perhaps it's time for me to read another chapter of Changing Habits Changing Lives?

Out of curiosity - is there a fitness/health guru that inspires you?
I'm quite taken with Michael Pollan and Michael Mosley's approach to food and health as they appeal to my own attitude towards life and their ideas fit into my lifestyle. But is there someone else out there that could tempt me with the right balance of science and practicality?

French Onion Soup

Weekend Cooking with Best Fish Reads allows me to get one last post in for this year's Paris in July event with Thyme for Tea.

During the winter months I love my slow cooker, but I've never tried to use it to make soup. This weekend I felt inspired to give it a shot.

I have a wonderful Slow Cooking book by Aussie kitchen legend, Margaret Fulton. 

We've enjoyed her Osso Bucco, Lamb Pilaf, Lamb Shanks and Beef Stroganoff over the years and I've used her chicken and beef stock recipes as a basis for making my own stock.

I always find her recipes easy to follow, using ingredients I usually have to hand with the end results guaranteed yummy for the whole family (although I always add a little more herb and spice than she recommends).

In honour of Paris in July, I decided to try her French Onion Soup (soupe a l'oignon).

Onion soup dates back to Roman times and was considered the poor person's soup.

In the 18th century, the French developed the modern recipe we all know and enjoy.

Legend has it that it was actually King Louis XV who made the first French Onion soup from the only ingredients to be found in his hunting lodge - butter, onions and champagne.

The gratin and gruyere cheese version familiar to most Francophiles is a modern invention.

As with all her recipes, Fulton's French Onion Soup was easy to prepare and cook.

The aroma of the caramelising onion and butter was divine.  

I added some sprigs of thyme during the slow cooking phase because I simply have to have more flavour.

I also added some parsley, croutons and parmesan cheese at the end, but decided against gratinising it as I was too hungry to wait any longer.

It was delicious, although a I found that a little goes a long way. The sweetness of the caramelised onions was a little overbearing at times.

One recipes I read (for comparison) suggested using water instead of stock to get a more traditional flavour. I might try that version next.

I will also definitely explore adding more spices like pepper and garlic next time to give my savoury taste buds a break from the sweetness.

Sydney Seafood School Cookbook by Roberta Muir

I love it when Mr Seasons and I have the time to cook up a storm together. Just before Christmas we visited the new fish markets in Drummoyne and came home with a whole snapper.

My copy of the Sydney Seafood School Cookbook came to the rescue in how to prepare it and cook it.

"For more than 20 years, Sydney Seafood School has been teaching us how to prepare and cook the wonderful array of seafood found in our oceans and rivers. Now, for the first time, the School shares its wealth of tips and techniques, along with more than 80 outstanding recipes from Australia's leading chefs.

 There's also expert advice on choosing and storing seafood, plus step-by-step photos of essential techniques, including filleting and butterflying fish, shucking oysters, cleaning squid and octopus, and preparing crabs, prawns, and bugs. With beautiful photos of all the recipes to help you decide what to make, and illustrations of the various species so you know what to look for at the fishmonger, Sydney Seafood School Cookbook will give you the know-how and confidence to prepare seafood at home—with delicious results every time."

 It was so yummy scrummy I forgot to take a photo of the finish product - we were too busy eating it!
However the picture in the book above was pretty close to our first effort.

The whole baked snapper was so tasty and so easy, I can't wait to try out more of these recipes - watch this space!

 Weekend Cooking with Beth Fish Reads

Secrets of the Red Lantern by Pauline Nguyen

Secrets of the Red Lantern was one of the books I tracked down after my Easter visit to Vietnam. Mr Books and I loved the food whilst in Vietnam - so fresh, so tasty and so much variety. We loved the casual, shared style of cooking and eating.

We have eaten at the Red Lantern restaurant in Surrey Hills before with great pleasure, but when I spotted that Pauline had a cookbook memoir, I knew I had to give it a try. I wanted to create some of their famous healthy, delicious dishes myself.

Preparations

I have been dipping in and out of Pauline's story ever since, but have failed to try any of the recipes.

Curiously, it has been #AusReadingMonth and #nonficnov that finally got me to have a go at one. On Thursday evening I made Cha Ca - ling fillets marinated with dill and tumeric - with great success.

I love any chance to use my granite mortar and pestle, so I was delighted to crush the garlic, spring onions, tumeric and curry into a smooth paste.

The aromas that wafted around the house were so sublime they drew Mr Books down from his office to partake of the process!

The recipe was easy to follow, easy to recreate and very, very easy to enjoy.

Dinner!

Secrets of the Red Lantern is much more than a cookbook with great recipes though. It is also a substantial family memoir.

Generously littered with family photos and stories, we follow Pauline's immigration to Australia at a young age with her family after the war in Vietnam, to her early life in Australia, the importance of food in maintaining family connections and the opening of the first Red Lantern restaurant with her brother Luke and (now) partner Mark Jensen.

The book is sumptuously put together.

Each chapter begins with another part of Pauline's life story and a few family photos. Beautiful, simple photos of the food follow with one recipe per page. Brief chef suggestions by Luke and Mark accompany each recipe.

It really is an aesthetic delight from start to finish.

This post is part of #AusReadingMonth, #nonficnov and #weekendcooking.