Hasselback halloumi and hidden veg traybake recipe
Recipe developer, home cook and food blogger Anna Stanford created this recipe for her brand-new cookbook, Anna's Family Kitchen.
She says: "I love halloumi and, by baking it in a rich tomato sauce, the cheese goes soft, not squeaky! Even the veggie-averse members of the family won’t notice the finely chopped vegetables in the sauce. I like to serve this with crusty bread for dipping."
Ingredients
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 3 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 1 aubergine, finely chopped
- 2 bell peppers, finely chopped
- 1 courgette, finely chopped
- 100 g cooked Puy lentils
- 2 tins of chopped tomatoes
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 pinch of salt and pepper
- 675 g halloumi (three blocks)
- 1 drizzle of olive oil
- 2 tbsp pesto
- 1 handful of fresh basil, to garnish
Details
- Cuisine: British
- Recipe Type: Traybake
- Difficulty: Easy
- Preparation Time: 10 mins
- Cooking Time: 45 mins
- Serves: 4
Step-by-step
- Soften the onion in an ovenproof pan with a little oil for a few minutes before adding the garlic, aubergine, bell peppers and courgette.
- Cook on a medium heat then add the lentils, tomatoes and balsamic vinegar. Season generously with salt and pepper, then bring to a simmer.
- Hasselback the halloumi by making cuts at 0.5cm intervals that go three quarters of the way through the blocks. Nestle the halloumi in the sauce, drizzle with a little olive oil and bake in the oven at 200°C/180°C Fan/400°F/Gas 6 for 45 minutes.
- Finish with a drizzle of pesto across each Hasselback halloumi and some fresh basil.
Recipe extracted from Anna's Family Kitchen: Navigating through Food, Faff & Family Life by Anna Stanford (Meze Publishing, £25). Photography by Simon Burt.
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