Recipes

[MissButtercup]

I may have posted this here before and if so I apologize but I made these for dinner again tonite and they were just so good! I had them over a nice bowl of creamy polenta that I made and I can't wait to eat the leftover tommorow night again! The halloumi cheese is a cross between mozarella and feta. You can find it in middle eastern stores or whole foods. It's worth seeking out. It has a very high melting point so it stays in golden blobs and doesn't get stringy or gooey. You could use ricotta salada or mexican queso fresco if you have to. I also used pitted kalamata olives and not those terrible canned ones. I also used 8 of those baby eggplants because the seeds are smaller and they are not as bitter as a larger eggplant. I made a HUGE pan full, they reheat really nicely!

Moroccan Roasted Veggies with Halloumi Cheese

½ tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp ground cumin
2 Tbsp Tomato Paste
2 medium fresh limes
2 Tbsp olive oil ( I used my homemade roasted garlic oil)
2 bell peppers, chopped large(I used red)
2 small zucchini, chopped
1 small eggplant, chopped (I used 8 baby eggplants)
1 cup uncooked red onion, cut into wedges
2 cloves garlic, sliced
7 oz Halloumi cheese, chopped
2 oz olives, quartered ( I used kalamata)

Preheat the oven to 400. Mix together the cayenne, cumin, tomato paste, juice of 1 lime and oil. Place the peppers, zucchini, eggplant, onion and garlic in a large roasting pan and drizzle with the tomato mix. Put the squeezed lime halves into the tin. Roast for 20-25 minutes until the veg is golden and tender. Add the halloumi and olives and cook for a further 10 minutes until the halloumi is golden. Squeeze over the juice from the other lime just before serving.

I forgot to say that I made them in my nesco roaster because I didn't want to heat up the house and they came out perfectly with stirring every now and then. I roasted on the 300-350 setting and it took about 1 hour and 30 minutes.