Grilled Vegetables with Haloumi & Mixed Herb Pesto

A great veggie alternative to the usual meat-focused barbeque.

Ingredients

•   2 large courgettes
•   1 large red onion
•   1 aubergine
• 1 red pepper
• 1 block of haloumi
• Salad potatoes to serve

For the Pesto

• 50g flat leaf parsley
• a handful of pine nuts
• 30g basil
• 50ml olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 2 tbsp parmesan, grated.
• 1.5 tbsp lemon juice

Method

1. Set the oven to 190º and get a heavy griddle pan on a high heat, or the barbeque up to temperature.
2. To make the pesto, first briefly toast the pine nuts in a hot, dry pan. Allow to cool slightly. Combine the parsley, basil, oil, pine nuts, garlic, lemon juice and parmesan in a blender. Season with salt and pepper and whizz until well blended. Set aside.
3. Cut the aubergine lengthways into 1 cm thick slices. Cut the courgettes into rounds at a diagonal angle, 1 cm think. Quarter the pepper. Quarter the onion keeping the root end so that the pieces hold together.
4. Place all the vegetables in a tray. Drizzle with a little olive or rapeseed oil, and season generously with salt and pepper. Mix the vegetables so that they all recieve a coating of the oil.
5. Get the potatoes on; cook them in salted water, at a simmer, for 15 minutes.
6. Cook the vegetables, in batches, on the hot griddle or barbeque. Don’t move or turn them until you have good seared grill lines on them; about 5 minutes.
7. Once a pan-full/barbeque-full of vegetables are done, transfer them to the baking tray and put in the hot oven to fisnish – this way, the ones you do first will get longer in the oven – Grill the vegetables in this order:
   • onion
   • aubergine
   • peppers
   • and lastly courgette
8. Once all the vegetables are cooked, transfer to a serving platter, and spread generously with about half of the pesto. Save the other half to have another day, with pasta.
9. Heat a teaspoon of oil in a small, non-stick frying pan. Cut the haloumi into 5mm thick slices and add to the pan. The cheese will sizzle. Wait until you have a good golden colour, then flip the slices. The second side will colour much quicker than the first.
10. Plate everything up, and eat it before the cheese cools and goes squeaky!

Filed under: Recipes
Wednesday, August 26th, 2015 at 9:15 am