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.

Jamie Oliver - Vegies

I'm trying to convince B21 that eating more vegetables is a good thing and not something to be feared. It has been a decade long battle of grating, shredding, mashing vegies in every way possible to hide them and disguise them in the meals that he liked to/was prepared to eat. As a young adult he is now branching out and trying different foods and ways of eating. He has become very proactive about this recently as he attempts to lose the scrawny teen physique inherited from his father, to a more mature buff adult frame. Protein meals are now high on the agenda and he has joined a home-delivered protein meal group and is eating all sorts of things for lunch he would never have allowed anywhere near him in bygone years.

However he still chooses to eat a LOT of meat (i.e. will cook and eat four chicken kievs, rather than cook and eat two kievs with vegies). So before he moves out (fast approaching, so he says) I want him to see and experience vegies in an interesting, tasty and fun way, beyond the roast veg we usually live on.

So instead of just throwing on some rice to have with a chicken satay last week, I turned to Jamie Oliver for some help.

Socca pancakes with broccoli & cheese (without the pancakes!)

Ingredients:

160 g gram (chickpea) flour
olive oil
2 onions
2 cloves of garlic
220 g broccoli
1 lemon
100 g goat’s cheese
50 g Parmesan cheese
1 bunch of fresh flat-leaf parsley

Method:

1. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, 2 tablespoons of oil, 200ml of water and a pinch of sea salt. Set aside for at least 15 minutes.
2. Peel and thinly slice the onions and garlic, keeping them separate. Trim the broccoli, then slice into 3cm pieces.
3. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large pan over a medium heat. Add the onion and fry for 10 minutes, or until beginning to brown.
4. Add the broccoli and garlic and cook for 7 to 8 minutes, or until the veg is tender and the onion caramelises.
5. Remove from the heat, add the lemon zest and juice and set aside.
6. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large non-stick frying pan over a medium heat. Ladle in the batter for four pancakes (roughly 8-10cm each).
7. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until bubbles appear, then flip and cook for 2 more minutes, or until golden. Repeat with the rest of the batter.
8. Crumble the goat's cheese, shave the Parmesan, then pick and chop the parsley leaves.
9. To serve, top the pancakes with the broccoli, goat’s cheese, parmesan and parsley.

My Journey with the Recipe:

No pancake - I just wanted the veg part to go with our chicken satay.

No goats cheese or onion  - I'm the only one who likes goat's cheese and we already had enough onion in the satay. 

I had a lime in the fridge, rather than a lemon. 

I prefer broccolini rather than broccoli.

It was very tasty and I will certainly squeeze lime or lemon over my broccolini more often.

B21 avoids greens like the plague but actually ate two small stalks to humour me and said it was 'okay', grudgingly.

Sweet Glazed Carrots

Ingredients:

1 kg small carrots , heirloom if you can get them
50 g unsalted butter
1 tablespoon dripping or goose fat , (optional)
6 cloves of garlic
½ a bunch of fresh thyme
2 clementines
2 tablespoons runny honey or soft brown sugar

Method:

1. Trim most of the leafy green stalks off the carrots, then peel them.
2. Melt the butter and dripping or goose fat (if using) in a large frying pan over a medium heat. 
3. Crush the unpeeled garlic with the flat side of your knife, then add to the pan turning after 1 minute.
4. Pick and sprinkle in the thyme sprigs, squeeze over the clementine juice, then add the honey or sugar and a splash of water.
5. Add the carrots in a single layer, season with sea salt and black pepper, the jiggle the pan to coat the carrots. Cover, reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for 15 to 20 minutes, or until tender.
6. Remove the lid, then cook for a further 5 minutes, or until the glaze has reduced, and the carrots are sticky and caramelised, turning often. Serve straightaway, or reheat when needed

My Journey with the Recipe:

First I had to work out what a clementine was -

Mandarins are a class of oranges that are flatter on both ends, have a mild flavour and are very easy to peel. Tangerines and clementines are mandarins. Clementines are the smallest member of the mandarin family and are seedless. The peel is smooth, glossy and deep orange.

A clementine (Citrus × clementina) is a tangor, a hybrid between a willowleaf mandarin orange (C. × deliciosa) and a sweet orange (C. × sinensis), so named in 1902.

It's the wrong time of year for mandarins in Australia, so I settled for an orange.

And it was only at the end, as we started to eat, that I realised that I had forgotten to peel the carrots. We had all the natural goodness intact, but it made it harder for the honey glaze to be absorbed and the popped like over-cooked sausages!

Very simple and very tasty.
B21 approved.

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.

Weekend Cooking - Ottolenghi

One child has flown the coop (to uni) and the other is planning on moving out in the next few months. Mr Seasons and I will soon be empty nesters. A stage we've been looking forward to for years, but already, we're finding it more of a bittersweet experience. One of the good points though is having some space in our lives (and our home) and not having to cater for the very basic eating habits of the youngest any longer (he took his pizza tray with him to uni, which I suspect he will eat from morning, noon and night!)

Part of my post-children-living-at-home plan is to cook more interesting food. Food with spice and zing and taste!

I have a slew of Ottolenghi cookbooks that I have only ever prepared a few meals from in total. A very sad state of affairs! I'm hoping to change that this year.

My book club's summer picnic night gave me my first opportunity this week. I was working and only had an hour to whip something up that had to be 'shareable' and of the finger food variety.

Simple by Ottolenghi was the obvious choice for this. This cook book categorises each recipe into 6 main areas:

S – short on time: less than 30 minutes
I – 10 ingredients or less
M – make ahead
P – pantry
L – lazy
E – easier than you think

I wanted something light and summery with a little bit of zing!
Beef Carpaccio with Spring Onion & Ginger Salsa (pg 29) was the choice. It was categorised as:
S - short on time
I - 10 ingredients or less
M - make ahead

Because I only decided in the morning over breakfast, which recipe I was going to use, the make ahead part didn't apply this time around, but I now have some leftover spring onion & ginger salsa in the fridge for more zingy tomato snacks this week.

It was super easy to make. The longest part was crushing the ginger into a paste in my mortar and pestle, but I love any excuse to use my mortar and pestle, so it's never a chore.

I also love it when your finished dish looks exactly like the one in the book!

I served it with some Greek cream cheese and ciabatta. It was delicious and a big hit at the picnic.

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.