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.

Addictive Chickpea Lentil Salad

Salad number two from my lentil salad list. List of two that is, haha. I started making this after having something similar from a convenience store. I thought, damn I could make this at home and it would be fifty zillion times better. And it was. It's so so ridiculously easy to make especially if you take the trashy route and use canned chickpeas and lentils (hey, sometimes a gal's gotta do what a gals gotta do) and can be a nice side to some meat or seafood, or a main meal on it's own. I made it so much over the summer and always bring it along to BBQ's/parties where it's always welcome!

The chickpeas are my favourite bit they're like little creamy nutty nuggets of goodness. I always try to fit as many on my fork/in to my mouth as I can in one hit. Not going to lie, I often just go for spoonfuls straight from the can...

 

Chickpea Lentil Summer Salad

Serves 4 as a main, 6+ as a side

1/2 generous bunch of parsley (curly or flat), finely chopped
1 400g can of chickpeas
1 400g can of lentils (or alternatively cook and cool 350g from dried)
2 ripe tomatoes de-seeded diced
1 cucumber de-seeded and diced
4 spring onions sliced
1 avocado diced (optional but delicious)

Dressing

2 tbsp white wine vinegar
3 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp tahini (if you don't have this you can substitute mayonnaise)
1 tsp mustard
salt and pepper to taste


Whisk all the dressing ingredients in the bottom of a bowl (serving bowl will do; less to wash). Dice salad veg how you wish (I like, little 1cmish cubes) and toss through with drained chickpeas and lentils. Then, shovel in to your mouth and enjoy!

Cold Rolls

These things go by so many different names, I've met people who have no idea what I'm talking about when I mention them. Sometimes people call them Vietnamese rolls but that generally refers to those crazy french inspired pork baguettes filled with fresh herbs and mayo. Rice paper rolls, fresh spring rolls and cold rolls are common names.

Anywho, I love them! I'd never had them really until I moved to Adelaide and my first housemate introduced me to them. She put avocado in them too which was so delicious! They're the best lunch on a hot day because they're so refreshing. I love that fresh herb and chewy rice paper goodness.

The concept is so fun because you can fill these with all sorts of leftovers, doesn't need to be ~authentic~ just as long as it tastes good. They're super transportable and can be eaten with your hands so they make the perfect picnic or packed lunch addition. Going to be making many more of these over the summer.
 

Chicken Avocado Cold Rolls

300g chicken thighs
1 tsp soy
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp palm (or brown) sugar
1/2 a lime's juice

16 round rice paper sheets (available in the Asian section at most supermarkets)
1 bunch coriander
1 bunch Vietnamese mint (or regular if you can't find Vietnamese)
100g rice vermicelli or glass noodles
Cucumber slices
Shredded lettuce
4 spring onions sliced
1 large avocado, cut in to slices


Method
Marinade the chicken in the soy, fish sauce, sugar and lime juice. Pan fry until cooked through and browned on the outside. Let rest then slice thinly.

Prepare the rice vermicelli or glass noodles as instructed.

Lay all the ingredients out along with a large shallow bowl/tray filled with recently boiled water and assemble as follows (I love to put this all on the table and let people DIY)

1. Quickly dunk rice paper in the hot water ensuring it is wet on all sides. Do not let it soften and wilt in the water otherwise you will struggle to handle it later. It will continue to soften as it sits.

2. Place on to a clean damp tea towel and lay chicken gracefully down the middle of the sheet.

3. Top with avocado, herbs, lettuce, cucumber and spring onion then adorn with a generous pinch of the noodles.

4. Wrap like you would a burrito, bringing two opposite sides in then folding a third over and rolling to seal shut.

Serve with a dipping sauce of choice, I like to keep it simple and just eat them with soy or a mix of 2/3 soy, 1/3 rice vinegar, a dash of fish sauce and a squeeze of lime.

Inappropriately Chocolatey Cookies

I saw these cookies on an episode of one of Nigella's shows recently and died at the sight of them. I brought the ingredients around to the boy I babysits' place one night and we made them and they were just as good (if not better) as I imagined!

The biscuit part is actually quite bitter but once you load it up with chocolate chips all bitterness goes away, so don't freak out if you eat the mix and they don't taste right. They will, and with THAT many chocolate chips how can they not?!

I actually made this batch in the photo's with some caramel chips my boyfriend bought and sent me off to bake with. They were pretty sweet and I prefer dark choc chips instead but still so so good!

125g good dark chocolate (the stuff you eat! trust me it tastes best)
150g plain flour
30g cocoa powder
1 tsp bicarb
1 tsp salt
125g butter, softened
75g dark brown sugar
50g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 med (cold from fridge) egg
350g dark chocolate chips (or milk if you prefer, in my case caramel)

Pre-heat oven to 170°c

Melt the 125g of dark chocolate in either the microwave or over a pan of simmering water.

Cream the butter and sugar in a separate bowl (or stand mixer if you have one) then add the melted chocolate and combine.

Beat in the egg and vanilla then stir in the flour, cocoa powder, bicarb and salt.

Finally mix in the chocolate chips.

Scoop the mix out in to 12 equal portions on to 1 or 2 lined baking trays ensuring there's plenty of space between each as they will flatten a lot. Do not flatten them! An ice cream scoop is easiest but I don't actually have one so I just used 2 big tablespoons scraping the mix off one with the other.

 

Bake for approx 18mins or until a cake tester comes out clean. If you hit a chocolate chip try again.

Let cool slightly before removing from the trays and enjoy! Best served warm straight from the oven.

Focaccia

So busy lately with uni commitments, but, a few days ago I received my letter of acceptance in to a masters program in food studies! Hooray! I've finally found a few free hours now so here are some things I've been making lately, starting with this soft fresh home baked focaccia.

Home bread making can be quite easy if you choose the right type of bread to make! I picked up an adorable little European bread making cookbook in Portland on my travels last year and haven't made anything from it till now. I did tweak the recipe a little to suit my needs and I added a caramelised onion and herb topping.

Update: Here are some new pictures of a herb and olive focaccia I made a while back. I did this one in a pizza pan and made it round. Turned out so good!

Basic Focaccia

1 heaped tsp dry yeast
1 tsp sugar or honey
1 tsp salt
good lug of olive oil
1/2 cup warm water initially plus more
3 cups plain flour

Topping

Top it how you wish! I just caramelised 1 large onion and strewed it ontop before baking along with some chopped garlic, rosemary, thyme and a good helping of olive oil however you can push olives in to the bread, slices of garlic, any woody herb or top it with cheese.

Mix yeast, sugar/honey, olive oil and 1/2 cup warm water in a bowl, let sit for ten minutes so the yeast can activate and feed on the sugars.

Add the salt and flour and begin to combine, you will need to add more water at this stage, just add it little by little until you form a soft, pliable but not sticky dough. I prefer to not give measurements as it always varies by type of flour, humidity and temperature.

Knead the dough for a few minutes until it is smooth, place in a floured or oiled bowl, cover and set aside for 40mins, longer if it's a cold day shorter if it is especially hot.

Place the dough back on the bench and punch down the dough, knead the dough for 5 or so minutes and then flatten out to the final shape you want it. (I made a big rectangle but a circle is a popular shape).

Let rise again in a warm spot for another 40mins, after it has risen dimple the dough by gently pushing your fingers on to it. Pre-heat the oven at 200° toward the end of the 2nd rise.

Cover the bread with your topping of choice! Bake for 15-20mins (depending on the thickness of your focaccia) and enjoy!

Pre-bake

Tip: It was very cold in my house and my dough was rising super slow so I turned the oven on its lowest setting for a few minutes then turned it off again and placed the covered tray in the oven to rise, it worked fantastic just make sure your oven isn't too warm or the yeast will die. Only downside is that you have to wait and pre-heat the oven before you can put the bread in.

Tip: For a nice basic rosemary garlic mince 1 clove of garlic with 1 tsp of fresh chopped or 1/2 tsp of dried rosemary, a pinch of salt and 2 tbsp of olive oil. Sprinkle on top just before baking.

Murtabak

I've been watching lots of masterchef this season and this one dish that was made early on in the competition gave me crazy cravings all the time even though I hadn't eaten it before, it just looked sooo good!

So it's called murtabak and it's a Malaysian street food that consists of a flaky crunchy pastry outside filled with a seasoned mince and egg. I read a few different recipes and adapted one to my needs (what I had in the fridge) and personal preferences.

I'm really excited about how easy this was to make because I always get stuck with what to do with beef mince and end up just using it for bolognese or  chili con carne.

 

Murtabak

Serves 4

Pastry

1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup water
2tbsp vegetable oil or ghee
a nice pinch of salt

Filling

vegetable oil
500g beef mince (you could use any kind really)
1 medium onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 small knob of ginger
1 red chili
3 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground turmeric
2 tbsp soy sauce
salt and pepper to taste
 2 eggs
1 cup bean shoots (I had none)


For the dough, combine oil/ghee and flour in a bowl, mix and gradually add water until you form a smooth but firm dough. Don't add all the water at once as you might not need it all (I didn't). Set the dough aside to rest in the bowl covering with a damp tea towel for at least half an hour (make the filling while you wait).

Tip: It says to rest in a warm area and it was a cold night so I turned my oven on the lowest temp briefly to mimic a hot day, turned it off and left the bowl in there with the door shut while I made the filling. Worked a treat!

For the filling, finely chop onion, garlic, chili and ginger and sweat in vegetable oil, add mince and saute breaking up the pieces until browned. Add ground spices, soy, salt and pepper and toss through. Set aside.

Cut pastry dough in to 4 even portions and lightly oil each portion, roll each piece out as thin as you can and stretch out further if necessary. You want it nearly as thin as filo, don't worry if there are some small holes either, just patch them up.

Crack eggs in to a bowl and beat, set aside.

Place pastry sheet in a hot oiled low sided pan (grill, crepe or just a large frying pan will do) and pile with a quarter of the mince mixture and pour on a quarter of the egg. Fold it up like an envelope and fry for 1-2mins on the first side and a 3-4 on the next.

Cut in half an enjoy with a side salad or on its own with a cold beer!

Rocket and Walnut Pesto

This pesto is really delicious and easy to make, it's amazing just slathered on a piece of toasted crusty bread, spread or dolloped on to pizza or tossed through hot pasta for a quick meal. I recently made it along with some potato gnocchi and it was so so good.

Rocket and Walnut Pesto

50g of Rocket
50g Walnuts
50g Parmesan Cheese (good quality please!)
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tbsp Lemon Juice
Salt and Pepper to taste


If you're using parmesan from a block (which I hope you are) then cut it in to thin slices first to ensure you don't get surprise cheese chunks in your pesto.

Pop all of the ingredients in to a food processor, blender or use a stick mix and whiz until not quite smooth (you want a few chunks). I use a mini food processor it's fantastic for curry pastes, pesto's and chopping small amounts.

Hummus

You will never buy hummus again once you make it, even from plain old canned chickpeas it is so much tastier and so much cheaper to make!

You can get a bit fancy with additions like roasted garlic, roasted pumpkin or using white beans instead of chickpeas but the plain old stock standard is always delish.

Hummus

 

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 tbsp of tahini
1 tsp lemon juice
a lug of olive oil
1 small clove of garlic (optional)
salt and pepper to taste
water if needed

Put everything in to a food processor, blender (or you can use a stick mixer) and puree until smooth, if the mix is too thick and not blending properly add a little water to loosen it. I like to sprinkle a little hot paprika on top and add a drizzle of olive oil.

1 can of chickpeas will make about the same amount you'll get in a med-large tub of dip, and about twice as much as in the photo (I was hungry).