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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ASPARAGUS COURGETTE HALLOUMI SALAD

Finally summer is properly here although being a typical Brit I am now complaining it is too hot!! Arabella and I did escape the heat on Tuesday afternoon and went to see the Minion movie at the cinema which I highly recommend….fantastic air conditioning and a great film!!

Anyway now it is barbecue weather I am experimenting with some different sides - here is one which took a while to make (1 hour 20 minutes ish) but was super easy and absolutely delicious.

Ingredients for 4-6 people (I did half of this as was cooking for just 2 people):

350g cherry tomatoes, halved
140ml olive oil
24 asparagus spears, trimmed
2 courgettes
200g halloumi, cut into 2cm thick slices - or thereabouts
25g rocket

For the basil oil:
75ml / 5 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, chopped
25g fresh basil leaves
1/4 tsp black pepper

Preheat the oven to 160 C / 140 C fan / gas mark 3.

In a bowl mix the chopped tomatoes with 3 tablespoons of olive oil and season generously.

Lay them out on a baking tray lined with baking paper.

Roast in the oven for 50 minutes or until semi dried. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.

Blanch the asparagus for 4 minutes in a pan of boiling water.

Drain and refresh under cold water until the spears are cold. Then dry with kitchen roll, put in a bowl and toss with 2 tbsp of olive oil and season.

Slice the courgettes very thinly length ways using a mandolin or vegetable peeler. Mine werent very neatly done!

In a separate bowl, mix the courgettes with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and season.

Put a frying pan or griddle pan on a high heat for a few minutes until very hot. Cook the asparagus and courgettes in batches, turning after about a minute, until browned. Set aside to cool.

Heat the remaining oil in a frying pan over a medium heat and fry the halloumi for 3 minutes or until golden on each side.

Place on kitchen roll to soak up the oil while you make the basil oil.

In a blender blitz the olive oil, a chopped garlic clove, the basil leaves and black pepper until smooth.

Finally mix the vegetables, halloumi and rocket in a bowl and drizzle with the basil oil.

Tuck in and enjoy! We had it with a burger….yum!

This was a really good side - in fact it was so delicious I could have it as a main - the ingredients mix so well together and it tasted so fresh. I love halloumi and this is a great way to enjoy it. A perfect recipe for a summers day.
  

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SWEETCORN FRITTERS WITH HALLOUMI HUMMUS

I really fancied going out for a pizza with Arabella tonight however I had bought the ingredients for this recipe so knew I had to cook them not waste them. I have wanted to try sweetcorn fritters for a while - I always eye them up on brunch menus but then I end up ordering Eggs Benedict as that is my all time favourite. I knew I therefore had to make them myself if I ever wanted to taste them….luckily Fay Ripley had a recipe in her latest book.

They were very quick to make - around 10 minutes to prepare and 15 minutes to cook.

Ingredients for 4 people:

350g sweetcorn
100g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground cumin
3 large eggs
3 salad onions finely chopped (I used one big continental onion)
10g fresh mint leaves, chopped
3 tbsp olive oil
500g halloumi
Hummus to serve (or sweet chilli sauce)

To make the batter, place the flour, baking powder, cumin and eggs together into a large bowl.

Whisk together until smooth.

Season and then add the salad onions, chopped mint and drained sweetcorn. Mix well.

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large non stick frying pan and then ladle in half the mixture so you make 4 separate patties. This didnt quite work for me and I ended up with three!

Fry for 3 minutes on each side.

When they are ready, remove from the heat and keep warm while you cook the rest of the batter in another tablespoon of oil. I popped them in the oven under a low heat.

Whilst all the fritters are ready and warming, you need to fry the cheese.

Slice the halloumi into 12 slices and brush with the remaining oil. (I was cooking the recipe for just Arabella and I so only used half the ingredients).

In the same pan as before, fry the halloumi for a couple of minutes on each side.

Serve the sweetcorn fritters and halloumi with a big dollop of hummus or if you prefer a drizzle of sweet chilli sauce.

I have to say these surprised me. They turned out much better than I expected and went really well with the halloumi and hummus. I could definitely have done with a side of bacon or chorizo - that would have finished the dish off perfectly. Unfortunately Arabella was not a fan - she doesnt know why - she did love the halloumi though but no surprise there! 

One thing I like about this recipe is that it is very easy to cook for just one person and you would normally have most of the ingredients at home. A great brunch or lunch idea - I think a bit of a step up from a normal fry up!

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