Halloumi, Zucchini and Sundried Tomato Penne

 

This month has a been taxing on the wallet so I've been avoiding buying groceries and trying to make do with whatever I have in the house. That, combined with the fact that Matt and I have opposing schedules this week and haven't been eating together, allowed me to be rather creative in the kitchen. This recipe is one of my creations that actually turned out. I would actually make this intentionally now. So should you.

When I was googling zucchini recipes trying to figure out what I could do with the 3 I had in the fridge I saw this recipe for sundried tomato zucchini rounds and was all excited because I actually had sundried tomatoes too! But I didn't have goat cheese or chives. Then I thought "YAY I have halloumi!!" so that's how I came up with this dish!

Ingredients

250g package of halloumi, sliced into 3/4" slabs
300-400g of dried penne
3 small zucchinis, sliced in 1" medallions, then chopped in half again
2 gloves of garlic, crushed
1/4 of yellow onion, diced
4 tablespoons sliced sundried tomatoes in oil
1 tbsp oregano
olive oil
salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Boil penne until al dente, and set aside.
2. Grill halloumi on a greased grill, or in a frying pan with a bit of olive oil. This should take about a minute a side, and the cheese should be golden and firm where the grill/pan has touched it. Set halloumi aside on a plate.
3. Put a large frying pan on medium heat, drizzle with olive oil, add your diced onions and cook until soft. Add the crushed garlic and mix around for 30 seconds.  When chopping the zucchini try and make your zucchini slices the same size as the penne. Add the sliced zucchini to the pan, mix well and add more olive oil if it looks dry.
4. Season zucchini generously with salt and pepper and the oregano. Cook zucchini until firm yet soft on the outside, for about 3-5 minutes.
5. When the zucchini is done, add the pasta, sundried tomatoes, break up the fried halloumi into bite-size pieces and mix it all together. Fry until all the ingredients have heated up and married into a lovely harmony of flavours. Then eat! It's great the next day too.

Owl Mittens

I made these mittens as a part of a class at Stash Needle Art Lounge. I had done fair isle knitting before but I taught myself and I have been known to make some things up so I wanted to take a class to learn the right way. Low and behold, I did make some stuff up with my own creative fair isle technique. Before the class, I couldn't figure out how to wrap the main colour when working along patch of contrasting colour, so I would twist the yarns awkwardly which involved getting the two colour threads tangled most times, as my way to wrap the main colour. It seemed to work, but it defeats the purpose of fair isle two handed knitting, where your threads never get tangled. So I learned how to do that properly in the class (yay! no more tangled yarn cakes!) and I also learned how to do Kitchener Stitch properly! I found out that I also made up my own little way to do that. Trust me, the proper way looks a whole lot neater! Also a fun little tip I learned for when you join the first round on double pointed needles to avoid the little hole in joined-in joint.

Here's the tip:

1. Ok so you've cast on your stitches and distributed them around on your DPNs.
2. To join in the round, take the first stitch off the left hand needle and place it on the right.
3. Take the second stitch on the right hand needle over the first stitch on the right hand needle and place it on the left hand needle.
4. You have now joined the round by crossing over the stitches. And there's no little hole or jog on the seam edge! Wahoo!

I'm actually a little scared to post this because I already have 3 or 4 requests for a pair of these from people who have already seen them. I guess it is pretty hard to resist the cuteness!!

For information on yarn and the pattern you can see my ravelry project page. I've committed to actually recording my finished projects on Ravelry now because eventually I want to start test knitting so the project page of my Ravelry account will serve as a resume of sorts to showcase my soon-to-be-acquired-mad-knitting-skills.

more baby knits

 

Baby season is coming to a close. Which I am happy for because there is a bite in the air which is making me eager to work with woolly worsted weights. This cardigan was pretty easy and I really enjoyed the yarn, obviously, it is Quince & Co. after all.

I did the second size which looks to fit a 3-6 month old. But what do I know about babies. The yarn was tern in columbine. I loved the strength, twist and softness to this yarn. It seems like it would keep the baby really warm without being scratchy. The silk has a nice drape too that I could see translating well into wispy sort of cardigans. Q&Co. actually has some designs for tern just like this which includes the Abigail Cardi. Which I need to make btw. Right, I was talking about the baby cardigan....the pattern is Wee Brock. You can make Wee Brock as just Brock to be an adult size. I don't think that shape of cardigan would be flattering on me, but it is a super cute cardi.

eeee yarn!

I'm making my first men's sweater! I'm knittin' up Slade for Matt. It reminds me of a smoking jacket. The lovely lovely Brooklyn Tweet yarn, Shelter, in Nest arrived this week and I am in love with the colour and the everything about it. I am NOT in love with tubular cast on though...

Asian Stylez Chop Chop Salad

My brother came over for dinner and said he would do the main while we did the rest. He wanted to do an Asian meal so he made Carrot Ginger Rice and Garlic Ginger Chicken which was amazing btw. So I thought this was the perfect opportunity to make a chopped salad!

Ingredients

Serves 4 as a side salad


Here is the whole meal!

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp sesame oil
1 crushed garlic clove
juice of 1-2 limes
salt and pepper to taste
small bunch fresh cilantro, torn
1 red chili, thin sliced
3-4 green onions, diced
2 handfuls bean sprouts
2 small carrots, grated
1/2 cucumber, julienned
1/4 cup salted peanuts, smashed
1 romaine heart, diced

Instructions

1. Make your dressing by combining in a jar or salad dressing shaker if you're fancy like that, the olive oil, crushed garlic, juice of 1-2 limes depending on how juicy, sesame oil and salt and pepper to taste. Shake well and set aside. The ratio of olive oil to lime juice should be 3:1.
2. Chop, dice, julienne, dice etc. all of the salad ingredients as described above and combine in a serving bowl. Right before serving drizzle with the salad dressing, toss and serve.

oooo I just had a good idea! This would make a complete meal out of this salad if you grilled some chicken breast with some sort of satay peanut or almond butter sauce!!! oh-em-gee need to make NOW...

Indian Roasted Cauliflower with Fenugreek Salmon

This is a dish I made for my lunches on the weekend. I am so obsessed with roasting veggies and having them with fish for lunch. I particularly like roasted cauliflower, the texture is so hearty and crunchy and roasting it adds so much flavour. Not: do not pick up with cauliflower with your hands after roasting because it will stain your fingers. I just got my nails filled and they are soooo pretty with sparkles at the tip so when I greedily ate the cauliflower with my hands I stained the tips yellow so it looked like gross yellow sparkles. But its ok because it faded now so I am no longer angry at this dish.

Ingredients

Yields 2 servings

Salmon:
2 single portion salmon filets
2 tsp fenugreek seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tbsp melted coconut oil

Cauliflower:
1 head of cauliflower, washed and cut into bite-sized florets
1 tbsp turmeric
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp mild curry powder
2 tbsp melted coconut oil
a drizzle of hot sauce (I used sriracha)
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Salmon:
1. Preheat a medium sized pan to medium heat.
2. Make a rub with the melted coconut oil and all the spices. Rub on the salmon filets.
3. Grill salmon in pan with a lid on it for about 6 minutes on one side. Flip to the other side and grill for another 2 minutes. Cook times will depend on salmon thickness, but each side should be golden and the middle flaky and juicy.
4. wow I thought there would be more steps...but you're done here!

Cauliflower
1. Preheat oven to 400 F.
2. In a big bowl mix the cauliflower florets and all of the spices, hot sauce and coconut oil so that the cauliflower is well covered.
3. Put the coated cauliflower in a large casserole dish or even a cookie sheet and roast in the oven for 10 minutes.
4. Take it out and check to see if it's getting soft. Stir it around so that the other sides get roasty. Bake for another 3-5 minutes. The done texture should be firm but a little soft on the floret side. They should also look a little golden and roasted.

Pattypan and Halloumi Salad with Mint and Oregano Dressing

Do not be intimidated by the title if you've never heard of those ingredients. pattypan is a beautiful summer squash, also called star squash and halloumi is a Greek cheese that is best served fried. So really its just a squash and cheese warm salad. Okay that sounds even worse...its really really good trust me.

I made this for a dinner party and people started eating it before I could get a pretty picture! 

If you've never had halloumi cheese you need to try is RIGHT NOW. And good news Calgarians! Your local Safeway carries it! Shocking, I know. The flavour combinations really jive in this salad and I highly recommend having a bite of the halloumi together with the pattypan. Delicious. This recipe was adapted from a Big Girls Small Kitchen recipe.

Ingredients

Yields 4 served as a side dish.

4 medium-to-small sized pattypan squash
1 250g package of halloumi
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
olive oil for drizzling
juice of half a lemon
1 red chili pepper, seeds removed
small bunch of fresh oregano
small bunch of fresh mint
small bunch of fresh chives, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, peeled
salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Make your dressing: add the extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, garlic cloves, half the mint, all the oregano, half the red chili and season with salt and pepper into a food processor and give it a good buzz.
2. Heat up a medium sized frying pan on medium heat. Cut up the pattypan into approximately 2x2" squares. I just followed the star pattern and made them into wedges.
3. Drizzle some olive oil in the pan, add your pattypan then season with salt and pepper. Move around to get it coated with olive oil.
4. Mince half of the red chili pepper with seeds removed and add to the patty pan. Let the pattypan cook for about 5 or 7 minutes to the point that it is still firm but gives way a little when you poke it. Some of the sides should look golden.
5. Remove the pattypan from the pan into a serving dish and cover it with a plate or something to keep it warm while you grill the halloumi.
6.  Slice the halloumi into 3/4" slices, and then slice the slices into 3. It should make them about the same size as the pattypan. In the same pan you fried the pattypan in which should have some residual olive oil, add the halloumi and fry each side until golden brown.
7. Add the halloumi to your serving bowl with the pattypan, pour the dressing over it and combine. Tear pretty remaining mint leaves and garnish the salad with the remaining mint and fresh chives. Serve immediately! and EAT!