April eats

Well, I changed roles this month and became more of an eater of food than a maker. Jay stepped up to the ‘plate’ quite nicely and made a number of mouth-watering, thigh-padding dishes.

Top award goes to:

Fried Haloumi and Orange Salad

serves 4

500g haloumi cheese, cut into 1cm slices

1 red chili

1 garlic clove

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 T red wine vinegar

3 bunches spinach, stems removed

juice from one lemon

salt

20 water chetsnuts

2 oranges, segmented

1/2 cup hazelnuts, toasted (optional)

1/2 cup sun-dried tomato, sliced

Lightly fry the chili and garlic in 1/2 the oil, remove from heat, place in jar and add remaining oil and vinegar. Then bring a pot of water to boil, add half the spinach – submerging it with a wooden spoon- for 15 sec. Remove from water, rinse in cold water and squeeze out excess water. Shred remaining raw spinach with a knife. Fry haloumi in oil until crispy and golden on both sides and place each slice on a plate. Mix blanched spinach with raw shredded spinach, orange segments, sun-dried tomatoes, water chestnuts and hazelnuts. Stir in the chili dressing and add a pinch of salt. Divide salad between four plates. It has a fantastic mix of salty, spicy, crunchy, squeaky and refreshingly sweet to cut it. YUM!