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yep, looks fairly green, and a bit grainy :=) |
Friday, 16 May 2025
Pistachio And Chocolate No-Churn Ice Cream aka Dubai Chocolate Ice Cream
Friday, 9 May 2025
Crispy Haloumi Pearl Couscous Salad
Haloumi or halloumi? Apparently, halloumi is for the cheese that actually comes from Cyprus (and is a mixture of cows', sheep and goats' milks), so haloumi it is! Not sure I've ever had pearl couscous before (or maybe I did many moons ago), so this was a new experience. (I did in fact end up buying both sorts of cheese!)
Did I ever tell you my story about having breakfast in a Greek café in Nafplio? Mr P. and I had breakfast down by the water, where we ate yoghurt and honey. Oh my word!! If you like the taste of billy goat ... that yoghurt was a bowl of horror. Reminds me of buying scrumpy (rough farmhouse apple cider) in Somerset (or was it Devon?). Oh boy, I reckon they'd thrown a handful of cow dung into the apple press :=)
This is a recipe from Tonight by Nagi Maehashi, the well-loved Aussie cook. Some of you may know of her through her website, and her cookbooks. She is in the middle of a plagiarism barney at the moment, as she is accusing a Brisbane baker of stealing a few of her recipes. And a couple of other cooks are up in arms too. Someone suggested the 'naughty' cook had just typed in a request to ChatGPT for recipes - tee hee :=)
Just FYI, a list of ingredients isn't under copyright, but your prose - how you write the method - most certainly is! So that's why I always re-write the method, and give attribution to the original cook. I remember there was a local foodie/blogger/entrepreneur who would add fabulous recipes to her website, but they were very VERY clearly those of Nigella Lawson!! You simply cannot mistake Nigella's voice, ever! When I called her out on it, she just basically said: "Oh yeah." Without the slightest bit of guilt or remorse! Grrrrrrr!
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crispy, herby, fresh and delicious |
Serves 4:
ingredients:
Pearl couscous:
1 Tbs EV olive oil
1 large garlic clove, finely chopped or grated
165g./6 oz pearl couscous
375 mL/12.7 oz vegetable or chicken stock
1/4 tsp sea salt flakes
Lemon Dressing:
3 Tbs lemon juice
80 mL/2.7 oz EV olive oil
1 garlic clove, finely chopped or grated
1 tsp sea salt flakes
1/4 tsp black pepper
Crispy honey-glazed haloumi:
1 Tbs EV olive oil
400g./14 oz haloumi, cut into 1.5 cm/0.6 inch cubes
2 tsp honey (or maple syrup, says Nagi, but I guess you can use whatever syrup you like)
Salad:
100g./3.5 oz baby spinach leaves, roughly chopped or torn into wee pieces see Notes
3 tomatoes, chopped up and seeds removed (or not, as you please)
2 cucumbers, sliced lengthwise then chopped into small pieces see Notes
2 spring (green) onions aka shallots/scallions, finely sliced
1 avocado, cut into small cubes see Notes
6g./0.2 oz mint leaves, chopped see Notes
5g./0.2 oz coriander or parsley leaves, chopped
2 Tbs dill, chopped
Method:
For the couscous:
Grab a large saucepan, pour in the oil and place over medium heat
In goes the garlic, and cook for 20 seconds
Heat goes up to high; stir in the couscous for one minute
Now add the stock and salt
Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cover with a lid
Simmer for ten minutes, or till the liquid has gone
And tip the couscous into a bowl, and let it cool down for around 30 minutes - don't worry if it turns into a solid block!
For the dressing: grab a jar, put the ingredients inside, and give it a good shake!
Now for the haloumi:
Grab your large, non-stick frying pan, and put it over a medium-high heat
In go the haloumi cubes, and you toss 'em till light golden
Then drizzle over the honey or syrup, and toss for another minute
Pour out into a bowl to cool a bit, while you make the salad
For the salad:
You now pour half the dressing over the couscous, and give it a toss
Tip in the salad ingredients, and the rest of the dressing (I snuck in chives, parsley and coriander rather than dill and mint - Mr P. and I are not fans)
Give it all a really good toss, and cast on the haloumi
Garnish with some more chopped herbs if you feel inclined
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baby spinach leaves |
Notes:
Nagi doesn't say what type of cukes, so does she mean those long English ones or the short, squat ones, or the short and thin ones? Who knows? I just went for Lebanese cukes, which are kinda short
Nagi is very precise about her cube sizes, but I reckon just go for whatever size you fancy
Avocadoes are not ripe at the moment, so I fudged it with a green capsicum
Not such a big fan of spinach, so I used about 60g.!
FYI, the haloumi weeped a fair bit while frying, so I spooned out the excess liquid so it became crispy, rather than going into a big sweat
red tomatoes |
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ingredients gathered |
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stir in that couscous, let it boil, then simmer for about 10 mins. |
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and it's done |
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cool that couscous and chop that cheese |
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crispy and golden! |
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shake that dressing |
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and chop those cukes! |
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couscous into the bowl |
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and add the salad |
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and in goes the dressing |
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top the salad with the crispy haloumi |
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eat! |
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spring onions |
cucumbers |
Joining in with Jo from BKD Cookbook Club; this month's theme is recipes from celebrity chefs!
Thursday, 1 May 2025
In My Kitchen - May 2025
Did everyone have as mad an April as we did? There was so much happening: birthdays galore, medical and other appointments, short stories to write for competitions, blog posts, and general living.
As Mr P. is the President and I am the Vice-President of our local Historical Society, we attend two meetings a month, and do the various bits and bobs that go along with that. And of course, we had gone away at the start and end of the month, and I had the bronchitis which knocked me out of things for a couple of weeks. How the heck did we get everything done?
I usually bake Anzac biscuits for Anzac Day (25th April), but as we were going away the next day (actually on Anzac Day), I decided to give it a miss this year. I have sometimes made 5 or 6 dozen biscuits! They hold a service just near our local Historical Society each year, which is widely attended, so we headed there, then headed south for our weekend away (in honour of Mr P.'s birthday).
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passionfruit butter cake for Mr P.! (bought in) |
I'm looking forward to a quiet May, hopefully! But I have a feeling that ain't gonna happen :=)
In My Kitchen:
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a few more goodies from the local Japanese store |
Love the Pikachu furikake jar. And it's so tasty! The Kit-Kats were 'adult' flavour apparently, which meant little to no sugar. I liked 'em!
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Easter chocs from Coco88 |
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and a few more chocs, and some local honey |
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oh yes, another cookbook! Donna's latest |
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more herbs and seeds from Herbie's Spices |
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and some goodies from a new Asian store |
I thought they were little lollies top-left, but no, it's some sort of Rubik's cube, and the tiny beads are meant to zip around all over the place. Mr P. and I could NOT get them to move at all :=) But happily, there were some wee lollies lurking in the orange cardboard packet.
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I love Gewurzhaus goodies! |
We visited their shop when in Melbourne recently. It was heavenly. I bought some real cinnamon, as normally I buy Dutch cinnamon which is of course cassia rather than the real stuff.
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I bought some coffee pods at a new (for us) coffee shop on the Southside |
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and I made citrus cordial for Mr P. |
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and I made hummus with lots of garlic! |
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and the curveball: I bought her at the Logan Art Gallery - a ceramic lizard Artist: Alysen Moloney |
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c. Sherry M. |
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