Ingredients

Serves 4

Roast Vegetable and Haloumi Salad
2 - 3 potatoes
1 orange sweet potato
1 purple sweet potato
½ small pumpkin
3 - 4 cloves garlic, unpeeled
1 tomato, halved
About 3 tbsp olive oil
½ tsp raw sugar
Small handful of bay leaves and freshly chopped rosemary and sage
1 x 250 g block haloumi cheese
1 x 400 g tin chick peas, drained and rinsed
About 2 tbsp freshly chopped coriander leaves
3 - 4 tbsp Erriba Salad
Dressing:
Juice of 4 lemons freshly squeezed
Extra virgin olive oil (half the quantity of lemon juice)
Big dash of red wine vinegar
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Salt & pepper


Persian Love Cake
Serves 6

120 g butter, softened
360 g almond meal
180 g raw sugar
180 g brown sugar
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
250 g Greek-style plain yoghurt, plus extra to serve
1 tbsp freshly grated nutmeg
¼ cup roughly chopped pistachios

Method

Roast Vegetable and Haloumi Salad
This is a beautiful and hearty salad. The combination of roasted, caramelised vegetables, haloumi cheese and chick peas tied together with a salad dressing is just lovely. It can be served on its own for lunch, or with some green beans or as part of a barbecue spread.

Preheat the oven to 200°C.

Roughly chop the potatoes, sweet potatoes and pumpkin into large chunks, then place in a large baking dish with the garlic cloves. Add the tomato halves, flesh - side up. Pour over the olive oil and use your hands to coat the vegetables with the oil. Sprinkle a little sugar on each tomato half and scatter the bay leaves, rosemary and sage over everything. Bake for 45 minutes or until the vegetables are soft. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly, then transfer to a large salad bowl. Discard the bay leaves.
Line your griller with foil. Cut the haloumi in half lengthways and place on the foil (to catch excess liquid). Grill each side on medium-high heat until golden brown (4 - 5 minutes each side). Cool a little, then cut or rip into 2.5 cm squares.
Add the haloumi, chick peas and coriander to the salad bowl and mix gently.

Make dressing by putting all the ingredients in a jar with a screw-top lid.  Shake well and use liberally on salad. This dressing will keep for several weeks if stored in an airtight container in the fridge.

Drizzle with the salad with the dressing to serve.


Persian Love Cake
This cake, made with almond meal and yoghurt and with overtones of fresh nutmeg, is absolutely divine. It has a crunchy biscuit base and smooth, soft centre. This is my version of a recipe I found in Australian Gourmet Traveller.

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease a 26 cm springform tin with a little of the butter and line with greaseproof paper.
Put the almond meal, sugars, salt and remaining butter in a food processor and blend until coarse crumbs form. Spoon half this mixture into the springform tin, gently pressing to cover the base evenly. Bake for 15 minutes, then remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly. Leave the oven on.

Add the eggs, yoghurt and nutmeg to the uncooked mixture in the food processor and mix until smooth and creamy. Pour over the cooked base and smooth the top. Scatter the pistachios around the edges and bake for 45 - 50 minutes until golden. The cake shouldn’t be too soft in the middle. Give it a little jiggle - if the middle moves, return it to the oven for a little longer.

Let the cake cool in the tin for a few minutes, then run a knife around the edges if needed and release the springform clasp. Serve at room temperature with extra yoghurt. The cake can be stored in an airtight container for up to a week.


Lauren’s book: Food from a Loving Home: a collection of vegetarian recipes, RRP: $29.95  www.laurenburns.com