Peter Sidwell's Halloumi Cheese
Halloumi cheese with roasted sweet potatoes, squash and lime - "This dish is the perfect combination of sweet roasted seasonal vegetables, salty cheese and fresh limes and herbs" - Peter Sidwell.
Ingredients
- 1 butternut squash from the garden
- 3 medium-sized sweet potatoes
- 3 tbsp olive oil, plus extra, to drizzle
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed salt and black pepper
- 3 red onions
- 1 red chilli
- 1 block of halloumi cheese weighing 250g (8oz)
- 2 limes, cut into wedges small handful of coriander small handful of mint
Procedure
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4.
- Peel the squash and sweet potatoes and chop to approximately the same size.
- Throw them in a bowl with the olive oil, crushed garlic cloves and some salt and pepper.
- Carefully peel the red onions, making sure you don't cut the roots off, then cut them into quarters - if the roots are intact they won't fall apart while roasting. They should be about the same size as the potatoes and squash.
- Spread the vegetables on a large roasting tray and roast for 25-30 minutes. When the vegetables are cooked, turn the oven off and leave them to keep warm while you do the last bit of cooking.
- Remove the seeds and slice the red chilli into thin matchsticks.
- Chop the coriander.
- Cut the halloumi into 1cm (1/2in) slices and drizzle with a little oil.
- Heat a non-stick frying pan and cook the cheese on each side until golden and crisp.
- Remove the vegetables from the oven and tip on to a large family-sized plate.
- Top them with the chilli sticks, slices of cheese and the wedges of lime, then scatter with the coriander and mint leaves.
- Make sure everyone helps themselves to a wedge of lime along with the veg - that citrus burst really makes the dish sing!
Tip: Get the dish to the table quickly once you have cooked the cheese - it has a habit of turning chewy if you leave it too long.