Warm Eggplant And Pomegranate Salad With Haloumi

Meat free Monday came a day late this week! And I'm back on the haloumi bandwagon after forcing myself to make vego meals without it for the last month or so.

Tonight I was inspired by the Middle East, with gorgeous fried Lebanese eggplant, capsicum and tomato with a tart, but sweet, pomegranate molasses dressing. The salty fried haloumi complemented it perfectly.

This was actually quite a light meal, so would be perfect on a warm summer's night, sitting outside, eating by candlelight. I can't wait for the weather to warm up!

I hope you like this simple meal as much as we did. Especially if you match it with a crisp, dry Riesling.

Warm Eggplant And Pomegranate Salad With Haloumi

2 Lebanese eggplants, halved and chopped into chunks
1 red onion, cut into 8 wedges
2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
1/2 red capsicum, cut into chunks
2 tomatoes, cut into quarters
A couple of handfuls of fresh mint, finely chopped plus extra to serve
250g block of haloumi, sliced into 5mm slices
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1 Tbs pomegranate molasses, plus extra to drizzle
1/2 Tbs white wine vinegar
A handful of pine nuts, toasted

Combine the pomegranate molasses and vinegar in a small bowl and season to taste. Set aside.

Bring a saucepan of salted water to the boil and add the chopped eggplant.
Boil for about 3 minutes, or until starting to soften. Drain well.
Heat a good drizzle of oil over medium high heat in a large frypan and cook onion, garlic and eggplant until starting to brown and soften.
Add the capsicum and stir for a minute or two or until it just begins to loose it's crunch.
Remove the pan from the heat and gently stir through the tomato and mint.
Pour over the molasses dressing and stir to combine.

Heat another good drizzle of oil in a second frypan.
Place haloumi slices into the hot pan and fry for 2-3 minutes each side, or until golden brown and crispy. Drain on paper towel.

To serve, place the warm vegetables on to plates and top with the haloumi. Sprinkle with pine nuts and extra chopped mint, if desired. Drizzle with a little bit more of the pomegranate molasses for extra flavour.

Enjoy!

And To Drink....

To go with the strong flavours in the warm salad and the salty cheese, you need a wine with plenty of body, but also some acidity and freshness. The 2011 Cofield King Valley Riesling was perfect. Plenty of lemon and lime on the palate, with a dry finish and lots of acidity.

The only thing that could have made this dinner better is a warm night, sitting outside under the stars. I'll definitely be making this one again in summer when I can really appreciate the food and wine.

Udder Delights Cheese

Last weekend I was in Adelaide for my Mum's birthday and was lucky enough to pick up an enormous pack of gorgeous Udder Delights Cheese. Udder Delights produces goat and cow's milk cheeses in the beautiful Adelaide Hills town of Lobethal, with their shop and cafe in Hahndorf.

Their range includes a goat curd, chèvre, goat camembert and brie and a goat blue. They also make a camembert, brie, double cream brie and Heysen blue from cow's milk.

My pack included a 1kg tub of the amazing goat curd, three 100g mixed goat brie and camembert and 500g of the Heysen blue. Paired with some crackers, dried fruit and nuts, it made the perfect cheese platter for the birthday party.

Unfortunately there was a big wedge of the blue, one camembert and half a tub of the curd left over that I just had to bring back home! As a result, we've been living on goat's cheese this week. Such a tough life, but someone has to do it!

I thought I'd share with you a couple of the salads and side dishes I've made this week and give you a couple of other suggestions of how to use goat's curd.

The Udder Delights curd is not too 'goaty', which means it is low in acidity and very creamy. It matches perfectly will all sorts of fruits and vegetables, so you can use it for sweet and savoury dishes. It is a great match in zucchini fritters, atop pasta, wrapped in prosciutto for an appetiser or on its own, spread onto fresh bread. Goat's curd on a pea and broad bean tart is a match made in heaven!

I have only made savoury meals this week, but will try something sweet next week. Goat's curd matches perfectly with fresh figs, ripe peaches and nectarines, if you wanted to make a dessert that wasn't overly sweet. It also bakes well into muffins, cakes or tarts. I think I might try a cheesecake or panna cotta.

For the first meal we had this week, I paired asparagus with the curd and served it with a nice steak, marinated in some red wine, garlic and pomegranate molasses. I also roasted some home grown potatoes with whole garlic cloves, lemon rind, lemon juice and a touch of chilli, for something different.

Tonight we had the zucchini and eggplant salad, served with panko crumbed snapper. Simple but very tasty.

I can't wait to finish the rest of the tub!

How would you eat your goat's cheese? I'd love to know how you enjoy this amazing product.

Asparagus With Goat's Curd

1 bunch of asparagus, woody ends removed

1/2 cup goat's curd

1 Tbs toasted pinenuts

A squeeze of lemon juice

A drizzle of extra virgin olive oil

A drizzle of pomegranate molasses

Freshly cracked black pepper

Place asparagus in a heat proof container and pour boiling water over it. Allow to sit for approx 1 minute, then drain.

Place blanched asparagus on a serving platter and sprinkle with pine nuts.

Decoratively blob the goat's curd over the asparagus.

Drizzle with oil, pomegranate molasses and a squeeze of lemon juice, to taste.

Finish with freshly ground black pepper.

Simple but delicious!

Chargrilled Eggplant And Zucchini With Goat's Curd and Pomegranate

1 zucchini

2 Lebanese eggplants

1 pomegranate

A handful of fresh parsley, coarsely chopped

A handful of fresh mint, coarsely chopped

Juice of 1 lemon

2 tsp verjuice

1 1/2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil plus extra for grilling

1/3 cup goat's curd

Salt and pepper to taste

Slice the zucchini and eggplant lengthways into roughly 5mm slices.
Place the eggplant in a colander and generously sprinkle with salt. Set aside for 15 mins to drain the bitter juices. Rinse the salt and pat dry.
Heat a chargrill pan or BBQ over medium heat.
Brush vegetable slices lightly with oil and chargrill until golden and tender. Remove to a plate and set aside.
For the dressing, combine lemon juice, verjuice, oil and salt and pepper to taste.
Pour half of the dressing over the eggplant and zucchini and toss to combine. Allow to absorb the dressing.
To remove the seeds from the pomegranate, cut it in half and then hold in an open palm over a bowl in the sink. Using a spoon, beat the skin side until all the seeds fall into the bowl. Remove any bits of the white pith that fall into the bowl.
To serve, drain vegetables from extra dressing and place on a platter. Top with chopped mint and parsley, pomegranate seeds and blobs of goat's curd. Drizzle with a little of the remaining dressing and a good grinding of black pepper.

Enjoy!