Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Grilled halloumi pitta pockets

(from a day in Yorkshire)

Breakfast: Wilton wholefoods orchard mueseli - bought from a market in Salisbury and enjoyed for weeks!

Lunch: A few awesome salads from Marks & Spencer

Dinner: Grilled halloumi pitta pockets with salad


I had the fabulous luck to go to the Glastonbury Festival for the first time this year, and though I could gush for days about how amazing it is, I'll restrain myself to saying this: go.

I will rave, however, about their food: best festival food ever, hands down. As a rough guess I'd say that half the food on sale is vegetarian, and in the Green Fields areas they only sell meat-free dishes. You could get full vegan breakfasts for 6 pounds and the best veggie burger I've tasted in a long time. You could also get these fantastic pitta pockets, which are great to eat while you're concentrating on pulling your wellies out of the mud with every step.

You'll need
(Feeds 2)
1 small packet of halloumi (see note below)
1 large red pepper
hummus
2 wholemeal pitta pockets
a handful of spinach
1/2 a red onion
balsamic vinegar
a handful of lettuce leaves
a handful of cherry tomatoes
a tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
Method:
Slice the red pepper and the red onions thinly
Thrown these into a frying pan with the oil and fry until soft
Add in a splash of balsamic vinegar and keep frying until browned around the edges and very soft
Add more balsamic vinegar to your taste!
Cut the halloumi into half-inch slices and place on a hot grill pan
Grill for 2-3 minutes on each side
Optional: Place the pitta breads in the microwave for 30 seconds each
Slice the pitta pockets along one of the long sides to make a pocket
Coat the insides with hummus
Stuff the spinach right into the pockets
Add the onions and peppers when they're done, being sure to push these veggies as far in as you can - we're looking for a fully stuffed pocket!
Top these pockets with the grilled halloumi
Toss the lettuce and tomatoes together with a little black pepper
Serve the pocket on top of the salad, as shown above
Cheeses such as halloumi are a good source of calcium, and halloumi isn't too heavy in fats and contains lots of protein. Plus it's super delicious.

If you don't have a grill pan you can do these under the grill for the same amount of time - but make sure the grill isn't turned up fully or the cheese will melt through the rack (as happened to me at Sarah's house!).

N.B. It's important to make sure that your halloumi is set with vegetable rennet rather than animal rennet. Rennet is a mix of enzymes taken from the stomach of a mammal and as such, isn't vegetarian. There are veggie alternatives though, such as thistle and fig enzymes. A hell of a lot of cheeses with contain rennet and may not obviously state this on the label so if you are a strict vegetarian, be very careful...or make your own!

2 comments:

  1. This is amazing! Bit of guacamole went down a treat in there too.

    Bit pricey to cobble everything together but so easy and ridiculously tasty.

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  2. I know eh? Great for BBQs too when everyone else is gobbling down steaks!

    Guacamole....genius.

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