Monday, 1 July 2013

Haloumi Haloumi Haloumi!

Glorious, squeaky, salty, tasty haloumi!

I had a friend visit recently who mentioned to me that she currently had a slightly shameful addiction to haloumi. Ever since mentioning it, I just couldn't get haloumi off my mind! I was feeling especially peckish one morning and decided to do something brunch-ey with it. It was particularly sunny and I was feeling inspired by the current cafe trend of putting stuff on ciabatta bread. This was the result:

 Couldn't even manage a straight photo I wanted to eat it so bad.



Rocket Smashed Avocado and Grilled Haloumi

Serves 1 of me.

2 thick slices of ciabatta
1/2 an avocado
1 handful of rocket
4 thick slices of haloumi
sea salt flakes (because you're fancy like that)
pepper
olive oil to drizzle

Fry the little haloumi babies in a pan over medium heat until brown on both sides and sufficiently gooey.

Tear up rocket and smash it through the avocado, add some salt and pepper.

Toast or grill your bread.

Slather the avocado rocket mix over the grilled bread and top with slices of haloumi.

Garnish with salt, pepper, olive oil and some rocket leaves (if you want to be fancy like that).

Photograph for instagram, because it's totally worthy.

Hearty Eggplant Parmigiana Bake

I go through phases of being addicted to certain foods. Currently I'm completely stuck on eggplant. Soft and creamy when it's cooked properly, it's amazing how rich tasting a vegetable can be! And it's good for ya, so it's a win-win situation for me really. I end up eating it religiously for a few weeks then move on to the next thing, but it comes back around every few months, like an old loyal friend. Oh eggplant.

Anywho, I've done the eggplant schnitzel thang, and I felt it was time to layer and bake. I ate it like lasagne, with some veg on the side the first time but then realised, hey, eggplant is a vegetable, why double up? I made up for that by adding a ton of mozzarella ;)



Baked Eggplant Parmigiana

Serves 4

1 large eggplant
1 700ml jar tomato passata
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 pinch thyme (dried or fresh
250g grated or slice mozzarellla
1 handful of breadcrumbs (optional)
salt & pepper
olive oil


Slice eggplant in to ~1.5cm slices, drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Grill under a medium heat in oven or on stove top until colored and nearly cooked through.

Meanwhile, saute the sliced garlic in olive oil for a few moments, add passata, thyme, salt and pepper, and let it bubble away on a low heat reducing slightly.

Layer sauce, eggplant and cheese in a medium baking dish (I used a square cake tin), in that order, and repeat ending with a layer of sauce, cheese then breadcrumbs if desired.

Bake at 200°c for about 20mins or until golden on top and eggplant is melting and soft.

Rest for 10mins before serving or it will slop everywhere.


PS: It's even better re-heated.