Haloumi with Balsamic Mediterranean Salad

Haloumi with Balsamic Mediterranean Salad

Yet another dish I whipped up for our Saturday night rendezvous, I found this a perfect entrée or plate that can be shared with friends when having a few drinks. And it is super easy to prepare as most of the ingredients can be sourced from your local deli, and all you need to do is fry the haloumi, toast the accompanying bread and arrange it on the serving plate.

Ingredients:

2 whole slices Marinated Eggplant
2 whole slices Marinated Red Capsicum
1 – 2 Handfuls of Rocket
1 tablespoon Olive Oil – good quality
250grams Haloumi (ask for the least salty variety on offer)
Balsamic Vinegar (to drizzle over salad)
Sourdough Bread

Cut the eggplant and capsicum into slices.

Place theses slices into a bowl along with the rocket leaves and toss.

Drizzle about one tablespoon Olive Oil over the salad and combined well being careful not to bruise the rocket leaves.

Place on to one side of your serving plate.

Cut your bread into individual sized portions and toast or grill.

Heat a non-stick fry pan to medium heat. Whilst the pan is heating, slice your Haloumi into ½ centimetre thickness strips.

Fry the haloumi in the fry pan until just golden. (Over cooking will lead to a dry and rubbery texture).

Place haloumi next to the salad on your serving plate.

Drizzle the salad with balsamic vinegar and serve with crusty toast.

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Mini Quiches

Mini Quiches

These quiches make great finger food and I made them for a get together we were having at out place on Saturday night. The can be prepared and cooked well in advance and they can be eaten hot or cold, so they are a great option for casual nibbles with a wine or beer!

Ingredients:
3 large eggs
4 1/2 tablespoons cream
3 teaspoons grated onion
Pinch of ground nutmeg
Salt and pepper to taste
2 sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed
Ingredients to your liking all finely chopped (I did 3 combinations: ham/chive, capsicum/cheddar, spinach/fetta)

Preheat oven to 210 degrees Celsius (190 degrees Celsius fan-forced).

Spray oil onto muffin pan to grease.

Using a fork or small whisk, beat eggs, cream, grated onion, nutmeg, salt and pepper in a small bowl until well combined.

Using a round cutter roughly the same size as your muffin pan holes, cut circles from each sheet of pastry.

Line each muffin hole with a pastry round.

Divide your selected toppings evenly amongst your pastry cases.

Spoon egg mixture on top off your chosen toppings to cover each topping in each pastry case.

Bake for about 20-30 minutes, or until quiches are golden and puffed. (If pastry is still not cooked on the bottom, cover the top of each tray with Aluminium foil and place back into the oven at a lower temperature for a further 10 minutes).

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Lebanese Bread Pizza

Homemade Lebanese Bread Pizza

Making homemade pizzas with your kids is a fun and easy way to get your kids involved in the meal preparation, introduce them to “questionable” vegetables and ingredients and most of all the kids get a great big kick out of making their very own pizza creation!

Our neice, Bethany (7 years old), was over on the weekend and we had a great time making our own creations and combinations for dinner on Saturday night!

The ingredients for the topping can be as few or as many as you like as well as being as expensive or as inexpensive as you like. The only limit is yours and your child’s imagination!

Ingredients

1 pkt Wholemeal Lebanese Bread
350grams Lite/Reduced fat Mozzarella or Tasty/Cheddar Cheese, grated
1 bottle, store bought Tomato or BBQ Pizza sauce

Toppings of your choosing, some suggestions are:

• Ham
• Pepperoni
• Cabanossi
• Salami
• BBQ Chicken
• Prawns
• Capsicum
• Mushrooms
• Olives
• Tomato
• Pineapple
• Onion
• Anchovies
• Broccolini
• Eggplant

Preheat oven to 200C (fan forced)

First chop (All ingredients chopped to roughly the same size) and prepare your toppings and place each topping either on a breadboard, tray or in individual bowls and place in the centre of the pizza preparation area.

Place the Lebanese Bread on a baking tray and squeeze the pizza sauce onto the Lebanese bread’s surface, then using the back of a spoon spread the sauce to create an even and liberal spread all over the bread.

Next sprinkle the desired amount of shredded cheese evenly over the sauced bread (placing the cheese on the bottom allows the toppings to melt into the cheese when cooking).

Add Toppings of your choice! This is the fun part! I'll leave the amounts up to you on this one, depending on the age and number of your children. (I find that less is more when it comes to toppings! Too many toppings create a soggy and hard to eat pizza!)

The pizzas are now ready for the oven so place them in the middle shelf of the oven for about 15mins each until cheese has melted and they are golden in colour!

Let them cool slightly and then Bon Apetit! Enjoy your own handy work and watch the kids devour them, vegetables and all!

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Salmon Patties

Salmon Patties

Salmon patties are an old childhood favourite and Craig and I recently revisited them, the weekend just gone. They are great for a light Sunday dinner and are just as delicious the next day also on a sandwich! I like mine very oniony so if onion if not your thing – then you can easily omit the onion or shallots or both!

As with all recipes there are variations so here are a few ideas:
- make smaller sized ones as finger food at your next party
- leave out the breadcrumbs for gluten free meal
-use herb and garlic breadcrumbs, or for other varieties look under breadcrumbs in this blog for suggestions!

INGREDIENTS
500g potatoes, peeled,
30g butter/margarine¼ cup (60ml) milk
Salt & Pepper to taste1 Celery Stalk – diced finely
2 Shallots – sliced finely
1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
½ handful of flat leaf parsley – finely chopped (optional)
415g can red salmon, drained, with bones and skin removed

¼ cup (20g) grated parmesan (optional)

2 eggs
¼ cup (35g) plain flour

¾ cup (50g) dry breadcrumbs

2 tablespoons olive oil

salad, chips

lemon wedges, to serve

Cook potatoes in a saucepan of boiling water until tender., Remove from heat. Drain off water and mash lightly with a fork or potato ricer if you have one.

Add butter and milk, and salt & pepper to taste beating until very smooth. Set mashed potato aside to cool completely.Flake salmon into a medium mixing bowl. Add mashed potato, 1 egg (lightly beaten), celery, shallots, onion and parsley. Season to taste and mix well to combine.

Divide salmon mixture into patties (a bit bigger than the size of a golf ball).

In 3 separate containers, have the plain flour, the second egg (lightly beaten with fork) and the breadcrumbs ready.
Dust with flour, brush with beaten egg and coat with breadcrumbs

Place the crumbed patties on a plate, cover with cling wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

When ready to cook, heat oil in a large non-stick frying pan on medium heat. Cook patties for 3-5 minutes each side, until golden.

Drain excess oil on kitchen paper, drizzle with a squeeze of lemon and serve hot with salad and hot chips.

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