Halloumi and Broad Bean Salad

It's been a wee while since my last post - not because I haven't been cooking anything new, but because every time I do, I don't feel I've got it quite right, so I want to work on the recipe before posting it! The weather has definitely improved since I last posted, which is perhaps why I've been making a lot more salads and light meals. Some salads are boring, tired, lifeless things that would put you off lettuce for life, but if they're done right, salads can be just as exciting and interesting as any other meal - sometimes more so. Still, I am sometimes put off ordering a salad when I go out to eat, just in case I get a plate of bagged lettuce with some cheese sprinkled on top and then (to add insult to injury) have to pay for it! That's why it can be better to make your own salads at home. That way you know it's going to be delicious, and you can get as creative as you like.

The salad I'm going to share with you today couldn't be simpler to prepare, but is bursting with flavour, and is really good and filling. It can easily be taken into work/school for a packed lunch, too, which makes it even more of a winner in my book. Of course, it contains one of my all-time favourite ingredients, halloumi, so if you like halloumi as much as I do, I guarantee you'll love this recipe. Broad beans are an ingredient I had never really used much before, but I'm finding that a bag of frozen broad beans can be a great freezer staple to have on hand, so I'm glad that this recipe showcases them. And with the winter frosts all in the past, I have mint growing in my garden again, and I found that it was the perfect addition to this salad to take it from good to great. If you wanted to, you could add some sweetcorn or maybe diced red pepper to this, but really, I haven't felt the need to do this yet, as it's really good just as it is! If you don't have a griddle pan, you can either grill or fry the halloumi; I just like to griddle for the pretty lines it gives the halloumi.

Halloumi and Broad Bean Salad

(serves two as a lunch, or more if served as a side)

Ingredients:

250g frozen broad beans

200g halloumi cheese

a little oil, for brushing

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon lemon juice 

salt and pepper, to taste

a handful of fresh mint, torn

Method:

Pre-heat the griddle pan over a high heat. Cook the broad beans in a pan of boiling water for 4-5 minutes, or until tender. Drain and peel off the beans' outer skin, if desired (I can't usually be bothered to do this!) Run cold water over the beans to cool them down, and set aside.

Meanwhile, slice the halloumi length-wise, and brush each strip with a little oil. Place the strips on the griddle pan and cook until the undersides have medium-dark lines from the pan. Turn over and cook on the other side until they also have the same lines (see how nice and professional the cheese looks now?!).

Mix the olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper together. Place the broad beans in a serving bowl and add the halloumi. Drizzle over the dressing, toss, and finally garnish with the mint.

Garbanzo Bravas (chickpeas in spicy tomato sauce)

Perhaps inspired by spending a couple of hours in the company of a Spaniard earlier today, I had a bit of a craving for patatas bravas when it came to lunchtime. I was really hungry though, and needed something NOW! Patatas bravas seemed like it would take too long, especially since I had no potatoes, so I decided to create a patatas bravas-inspired lunch: I named it 'garbanzo bravas'. I didn't know the Spanish for chickpeas, but as soon as I saw it, I realised that (unsurprisingly, perhaps) the American English word for chickpeas, garbanzo beans, actually comes from the Spanish. I love how exotic my new dish sounds!

I actually had some leftover homemade tomato sauce from the other night, so the recipe below is a little different to how I made it today, but should give you just the same result. This is quick, easy, and filling - and it makes a nice snack lunch or a side at dinner, or could even be part of a nice salad. Or of course, if you're serving tapas, this could be one of them!

Garbanzo Bravas (chickpeas in spicy tomato sauce)

(serves two)

Ingredients

a little oil

1/2 onion, finely chopped

3 cloves of garlic

1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

a pinch of salt

1 tin chopped tomatoes

1 tin chickpeas, drained

1 tsp smoked paprika

Method

Heat a little oil in a pan over medium heat and add the onion. Cook for 5 minutes, or until softened, and add the garlic, salt and red pepper flakes. Stir and cook for a further minute - do not let the garlic brown. Add the tomatoes and bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer and leave to simmer for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, add a little oil to another pan over a medium heat, and then add the chickpeas and smoked paprika. Cook, stirring, for a couple of minutes until the chickpeas are heated through. Once the tomato sauce is ready, add the tomato sauce to the chickpea pan, and stir together. 

This could also be served on a bed of cous cous to make it a little bit more substantial, if desired.

As well as being really easy and tasty, I really love that this dish incorporates one of my favourite ingredients - smoked paprika. This is my favourite spice ever, as it just adds so much character and flavour to anything you add it to. I'm always looking for new ways to use it.

I hope you enjoy my recipe, and please let me know if you have any other ideas for how I can use smoked paprika in my cooking; I'd love to be inspired!

Sunday Pasta Salad

I woke up today with the sudden desire to make a nice pasta salad - preferably in bulk so I could take it into work for lunch a few days this week. The only problem being that Sunday is our usual food shopping day, so the cupboards are usually pretty bare until we can be bothered to head to the shops. I thought I'd see what I had kicking about in the kitchen anyway, and was pleasantly surprised! So, taking my inspiration from this Jamie Oliver recipe, I decided to put my ingredients together and see if I could create a delicious pasta salad. I was really happy with the result, so thought I would share it with you. I am also getting better at thinking like a blogger, as I managed to take photos not only of the finished product, nor of the finished product and method, but actually of the raw ingredients, the method AND the finished product. Impressive or what? Yes, I thought so too.

This pasta salad is great as it feels so fresh (thanks in part, I think, to using rice vinegar - a tip from Jules at The Stone Soup [another great blog I recommend], who wrote an interesting post on different types of vinegar). Before reading that post, I just blindly followed what the recipe said in terms of what type of vinegar to use - too scared to try a substitution for fear it might ruin the dish. But as usual, Jules gives an honest, no-nonsense introduction to this subject that helped me (and will help you) to be more creative in my use of different vinegars. (Jules's guidance reassures me that never again will I spend an hour and a half traipsing around what feels like every food shop in the west end of Glasgow searching for the cider vinegar that a particular recipe calls for. Not that I have ever done such a thing, of course....!)

It's also not too oily (I use much less oil than Jamie suggests....but then again, I do find that he has a bit of an obsession with the good ol' olive oil, and it's usually safe to use about half of what he suggests). I used artichokes on a whim as I had them in the fridge, but as they were stored in a jar of oil, I drained them on kitchen roll before adding them to the salad. Again, this helps to keep the whole thing nice and light and summery (perhaps the lovely weather today was what inspired me to try this out, come to think of it).

So without further ado, I give you my pasta salad.

Ingredients:
150g tricolore fusilli
300g cherry tomatoes
1/4 cucumber
a good handful of stoned black olives
a good handful of artichoke pieces
2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp fresh chives
a handful of fresh basil
5 tsp olive oil
2 tsp rice vinegar
salt and pepper, to taste


Method:

Bring a pan of water to the boil, add the pasta and garlic cloves (unpeeled). Whilst the pasta is cooking, chop the cucumber, tomatoes, artichokes and olives. I like to chop them all pretty small, as you can see from the picture below, but you can make them as chunky as you like, if you prefer a bit more bite to your salad. Also, finely chop your herbs.

Once the pasta has cooked, drain it and remove the garlic cloves. Put the pasta in a serving bowl. (I like to pat it dry with a bit of kitchen roll, too, to avoid the salad being too watery, and also because it helps the dressing to 'cling' better to the pasta.) Squeeze the garlic out of its skin and mash them up. If you have a mortar and pestle, now is the time to use them, but if, like me, you don't, a small bowl or ramekin and teaspoon/fork works just fine. Add the oil and vinegar, then salt and pepper, and mix well. Mix the dressing into the salad and you're ready to serve it up!

I also, feeling experimental, tried some of the salad with a little mayonnaise mixed in, and it was really good too. If you want a slightly richer tasting salad, I'd recommend the mayo route. Otherwise, just the oil and vinegar dressing is really all you need - completely delicious!

I should point out that the above quantities make enough for two portions (if you're eating it as a light lunch), so if you're wanting to make enough for a few days or a few people, I'd suggest doubling the above. (The only reason I made so little was due to the whole 'cupboards being bare' situation I mentioned earlier!)

Let me know what you think if you make this!