PASTA SALAD WITH HALLOUMI VEGETABLES

The sun was out today so Pascal, Arabella and I all voted to have a barbecue of burgers, sausages and pasta salad. Unfortunately it wasnt as sunny as we hoped - typical English weather - but at least it wasnt raining. 

This is a vegetable packed pasta salad that is really simple to make and it took about 25 minutes to prepare and cook.

Ingredients for 4 people:

150g pasta (any shape like penne, rigatoni, farfalle)

250g halloumi cheese, chopped into bite size pieces

150g pot of fresh pesto sauce

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

1 red / orange pepper, chopped

120g frozen peas

165g sweetcorn

3 spring onions, sliced

2 tbsp sour cream

2 tbsp lemon juice

70g black olives, pitted

1 tbsp olive oil

First of all cook the pasta in a pan of salted boiling water according to the packets instructions (ours took 13 minutes).

For the final 3-4 minutes, add your frozen peas.

While this is cooking, fry the pepper in a tablespoon of olive oil for a couple of minutes so they soften and then put them in a large serving bowl.

Then fry the crushed garlic for a couple of minutes and add to the bowl with the pepper.

Continue to add the ingredients to the bowl. First the drained sweetcorn.

Then the spring onion and olives.

Once the pasta and peas are ready, rinse them under cold water and then add to the bowl.

Next add the sour cream, the lemon juice, pesto and season. Mix together well.

Just before you are about to eat, grill the halloumi for around 6 minutes (sorry I forgot to take a picture here, too busy fussing) and then cut into bits and add to the pasta salad. Finally serve and enjoy.

This is really good - colourful and delicious - by adding the sour cream it does not taste like your usual pesto pasta. There is such a variety of flavours that each mouthful tastes different. You could chop and change it, no surprise Arabella suggested using goats cheese rather than halloumi and Pascal was temped to add some avocado. My attitude is "if it aint broke, dont fix" and I cant wait to eat the tiny bit of leftovers tomorrow….unfortunately it was so good, not much remains!!

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Indian Spiced Sauteed Vegetables

I hope everyones week is going well.  Im excited to bring you a new recipe today.  As I mentioned in my post earlier this week, I have already made this dish twice this week.  Once when my parents visited last weekend, and again on Monday to enjoy with my lunches for the week.

This recipe is VERY versatile!  It will work with just about any veggies you have on hand.  It would even taste great with some cooked potatoes added in.  I have been having it with some cooked basamati brown rice and homemade Indian saag with mung beans, which I made based on Wendys recipe at Healthy Girls Kitchen called Vegan Indian Saag (Spinach) Tofu.  Another way I enjoyed it this week was with brown rice, some chickpeas, and topped with some siracha sauce.  Like I said, very versatile!

The point of this recipe for me this week was to have some cooked (mostly green) veggies ready to eat, rather than digging out my pots and pans every evening.  I actually tasted this cold out of the fridge, and it was super yummy!

Indian-Spiced Sauteed Vegetables

Time: 15 minutes
Servings: 2-4 servings

Ingredients:
    Vegetables: (about 6 cups total)
        1/2 head green cabbage, shredded
        1 large yellow onion, chopped
        1 medium zucchini, chopped
        1 cup mushrooms, sliced
    Spices:
        2 cloves garlic, minced
        1 tsp ginger paste (or 1/2 tsp minced fresh ginger)
        1 tsp cumin
        1 tsp coriander
        1/2 tsp turmeric
        1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, more to taste
        1/4 tsp cinnamon
        Fresh herbs
 

Instructions:
1.)  In a large frying pan over medium-high heat, saute the garlic and ginger paste with a little water, as needed.  Once fragrant and lightly browned, add in all of the vegetables.
2.)  Water saute the vegetables for 5-8 minutes, until soft and tender.
3.)  Sprinkle on the remaining spices and stir to incorporate.
4.)  Serve hot by itself, on a baked potato, with brown rice, over steamed spinach, with chickpeas, etc.  Or be crazy and eat it cold out of the fridge!

Amys Notes:

I forgot to mention, fresh herbs mix wonderfully into this dish.  I happened to have fresh basil on hand (thank you moms garden!), so I roughly chopped up about 1/4 cup and added it to the veggies at the end of cooking.  Other fresh herbs that might go well besides basil are cilantro and mint... separately, of course! ;)

I absolutely love the color that the turmeric colors the veggies.  The spices hold up wonderfully on their own, and I have found that the veggies go well as a side as well as on top of some grains and beans.

This is a great side dish to make if you are having a homemade Indian dish for dinner.  Most main Indian dishes take some time and effort to make, so the fact that this vegetable saute can be chopped and cooked within 15 minutes is important!

Health and Happiness,

Amy

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