I promised my family no more chocolate recipes for at least a month (let’s hope i can keep that promise). Since I’m keeping my distance from chocolate , i decided to cook lunch today.
What i love to do is, go through the kitchen and randomly grab some ingredients then decide what to cook.
I ended up with:Puff pastry, Halloumi cheese and cherry tomatoes. The first thing that popped into my head was a simple yet delicious tart.
Halloumi is a traditional Cypriot cheese that is also popular in the rest of the Middle East and Greece. It is made from a mixture of goat and sheep milk, although some halloumi can be bought that also contains cow's milk. It has a high melting point, and so can easily be fried or grilled.
This recipe goes well with a simple green salad.
Halloumi Tart (Makes 10)
Ingredients:
Crust
10 square sheets of puff pastry
Filling
1 cup Halloumi cheese, cut in small pieces
½ cup finely grated mozzarella cheese
¼ cup Finely grated Parmesan cheese
4 green onions, chopped
1 tbs olive oil
½ tsp salt
½ tsp black pepper
2 cloves garlic, crushed
Tomato sauce
½ cup Tomato paste
1 tsp salt
½ tsp black pepper
½ tsp sugar
1 tbs olive oil
Top
5 cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
10 mint leaves
¼ cup parmesan cheese
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 175°c
2. Place the pastry on a baking tray. Prick using a fork around the pastry to create a border, and the pastry base to create holes.
3. To make the tomato sauce, mix together all the ingredients, and spread it over the puff pastry.
4. In a bowl, combine the 3 cheeses, chopped green onions, crushed garlic, olive oil, salt & pepper. Spread the cheese mixture over the pastry, top it with half cherry tomato and 1 mint leaf each. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.
5. Bake about 20-25 minutes, or until the pastry rises and turns golden brown. Top it with fresh mint leaves.
Bon appetite!
