It’s official! Winter is here in the UK. It took it’s sweet time coming, and for a while it had me fooled into thinking I could handle it. But no, deep down I am still a thin-skinned Aussie girl.
Strangely enough, although I’ve mostly been craving hearty warm winter fare of late, this week I decided to make a salad. A fairly wintery salad, as salads go, but still, a salad.
The recipe I used can be found in the December issue of Delicious magazine, or online here.
Ready, steady, cook!
Herbed lentil and beetroot ‘couscous’ with halloumi and spiced seeds
Please note – below is the list of ingredients I used, but it differs slightly from the original recipe.
Ingredients:
- 150gm raw beetroot peeled (two medium beetroots)
- 100gm puy lentils, dried or cooked
- 4 small shallots or half a red onion, finely diced
- 100gm gherkins, finely sliced
- 2 tsp dried dill
- 20gm fresh mint
- 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 2 tbsp virgin olive oil
- Juice of half a lemon
- Packet of cooked beetroot
- 60gm mixed seeds
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp paprika
- 3 tbsps vegetable oil
- 250gm halloumi
Method:
- If using dried puy lentils, rinse the lentils under cold water, then add to a pan with three times their volume in water. Pop in a stock cube for more flavour, and leave to simmer for 25 minutes.
- Pre-heat the oven to 180C.
- Peel and grate the raw beetroot into a large bowl. It’s probably best to wear gloves, otherwise you’ll be caught red-handed like I was!
Ruby red beetroot
- Add the shallots, gherkin, dill, fresh mint, vinegar, olive oil and lemon to the beetroot, and toss to combine.
Grated beetroot
- Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.
- Pour the seeds onto the tray, and toss with the cumin and paprika, and 1 tbsp of the oil.
- Pop the seeds into the oven and bake for 5 minutes.
Spiced seeds
- After 5 minutes, take the seeds out of the oven and add the quartered cooked beetroot to the tray. Return to the oven for another 8 minutes (or until seeds are golden brown and beetroot warmed through).
More beetroot, anyone?
- Slice the halloumi and pan fry over a high heat with the remaining oil until golden brown.
- Drain the lentils and mix through the grated beetroot combination in the bowl, along with the toasted seeds.
- To serve, pile the grated beetroot mix on a plate and top with the warm cooked beetroot and slices of halloumi.
Ta dah!
I felt it needed some additional greens, so served it with steamed broccoli on the side. It was delicious! Very tasty and refreshing, and pretty healthy too (if you ignore the fried cheese).
Enjoy.
Florence&Belle 