Spiced Haloumi and Lentil Salad

A haloumi and lentil salad is one of my favourite meals to make for lunch on a Saturday. I also make a very similar salad to take to work for lunch but add danish feta instead of haloumi.

I made this salad for dinner last night and served it with grilled chicken. In my quest to use the many, many spices that I have purchased, last night I sprinkled the haloumi with cumin and green cardamom - and the result was fantastic. The spices were delicious when fried with the haloumi and they formed a gorgeous, golden crust.

Normally when I make this salad I either serve it with a simple olive oil and lemon juice dressing, or lemon myrtle infused olive oil and lime juice. I recently purchased a bottle of pomegranate molasses and decided to try it with this recipe. Pomegranate molasses is pomegranate juice that has been reduced until it is thick and syrupy. It is wonderfully sour and tangy. And I think it works really well with the cumin and cardemom in this recipe. It is available from specialist delis, some greengrocers and some supermarkets (but not mine naturally). It is also available from Herbie's Spices (my new favourite shop - see http://www.herbies.com.au/). Don't be scared, give it a go!

Ingredients (serves 2 either as a side, or as a light lunch)

400g tin lentils drained and rinsed

A couple of handfuls of salad leaves washed and dried (I used baby spinach...yes, I love it)

Half a lebanese cucumber sliced

Half a small red onion finely diced

1 tablespoon pine nuts lightly toasted

A handful parsley and mint roughly chopped

125g cherry tomatoes halved

180g haloumi sliced into 1cm slices

Olive oil to fry

Dressing

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground green cardamom

1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses

3 tablespoons olive oil

Splash fresh lemon juice

Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Combine dressing ingredients in a glass jar and shake to combine.

Combine lentils, salad leaves, cucumber, red onion, pine nuts, parsley, mint and tomatoes in a bowl.

Heat olive oil in a fry pan over medium heat. Sprinkle cumin and cardamom over haloumi. Fry haloumi on each side for a few minutes until golden.

Add dressing to the salad and toss lightly. Serve salad with haloumi.

Sunday Lunch Preparation Plan

So, here is my preparation plan for my Sunday Lunch.

Day before

Make aioli

Make butter for beef

Make ravioli

Roast pine nuts

Toast sourdough for bruschetta

Wash rocket

Bake prosciutto

Roast tomatoes

In the morning of "the day"

Peel prawns

Make cake

Prepare spiced berries

Whip cream

Have fun!

Rich Chocolate Cake with Spiced Berries and Whipped Cream

The cake recipe that I use here is the "almost flourless chocolate cake" from Marie Claire Food Taste 101. But I have added a few extra touches. One of these special touches is wattleseed which matches brilliantly with chocolate. The other is cassia which is like cinnamon, but more aromatic.

I was given the spiced berries recipe by a saleswoman at Herbie's Spices when I went in looking for a spice to go with the dessert. I ended up buying "Fragrant Sweet Spices" which is a wonderfully fragrant spice blend. It was marvellous.

The cake can be made in advance, as can the berries. I made both in the morning on the day of my Sunday Lunch.

Chocolate cake

Ingredients

Butter for greasing

100g dark couverture or good quality cooking chocolate

1/2 cup cocoa plus extra for dusting

1 cup caster sugar

1/2 cup boiling water

2 large eggs separated, plus 2 eggwhites extra

1/4 cup almond meal

2 1/2 tablespoons plain flour, plus extra for dusting

1 teaspoon cassia or cinnamon

1 teaspoon wattleseed

1 vanilla pod split down the middle and seeds removed

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Spiced berries to serve

Whipped cream to serve

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Grease a 20cm springform cake tin, line the base with baking paper and dust the sides lightly with flour.

Put the chocolate, cocoa and 3/4 cup of the sugar in a large heatproof bowl and pour over the water. Stir until the chocolate melts and sugar dissolves. Beat in the egg yolks then stir in the almond meal, flour, wattleseed, cassia and vanilla seeds.

In a separate clean bowl, use clean beaters to beat the eggwhites with the cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Beat in the remaining sugar until stiff. Using a metal spoon, fold the eggwhite, in two batches, until the chocolate mixture until just combined. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin.

Bake on a lower rung on the oven for 30-35 minutes (I found I needed 40 minutes) or until a few moist crumbs cling to a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake. Remove from the oven, then leave to cool in the tin on a wire rack. Carefully turn out the cake, remove the paper and invert onto a plate so it is the right way up. Dust with cocoa and serve with the spiced berries and whipped cream.

Spiced berries

Ingredients

1 cup water

1/2 cup sugar

2 teaspoons Fragrant Sweet Spices

300g frozen raspberries

Method

Heat the sugar and water in a small saucepan, stirring until sugar has dissolved. Simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes, then remove from the heat and stir in spice mix.

Leave to cool.

Place thawed berries in a bowl, pour cooled syrup over and refrigerate. Serve with chocolate cake and whipped cream.

Rocket, Roast Tomato and Parmesan Salad with Pink Peppercorn Dressing

Given the roast beef and rosemary chips contained strong flavours, I wanted to serve them with a fairly simple salad. As it turns out, I loved this salad, especially the dressing. The pink peppercorn was another Herbie's purchase. It adds a bit of bite, without being overwhelming. The combination of rocket, roast tomatoes and parmesan is an old favourite of mine, but the dressing added something different.

The tomatoes can be roasted in advance. I made them the day before and stored them in the fridge until just before serving. I also made sure the rocket was washed and dried before my guests arrived. I love my salad spinner - if you don't have one I highly recommend purchasing one. I wash all my leaves when I buy them and store them in the spinner in the fridge until required.

Ingredients

250g cherry tomatoes cut in half

2 teaspoons sumac

1-2 tablespoons olive oil

100g rocket washed and dried

1/4 cup grated parmesan (I used a vegetable peeler to peel the parmesan into thin strips)

3 tablespoons olive oil (extra)

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

1 teaspoon pink peppercorn

Method

Place the tomatoes in a roasting pan and drizzle with olive oil and sumac. Toss to combine. Roast for 20-25 minutes until soft.

To make the dressing, crush the peppercorn in a mortar and pestle and mix well with the olive oil and vinegar.

Just before serving, toss the rocket, parmesan and tomatoes with the dressing.