Minted Chick Pea & Aubergine Salad with Griddled Halloumi

In the spirit of Dandruff Dave’s Big Society we here at Yumblog have served each other redundancy notices so that you, dear reader, can volunteer and write this blog yourself.  So come on Dirk, Tony, Helen, Scooter McKenzie, Mimsy Swallows, Zucchini Breath, Briony Bob et al, step forward and become part of this radical new age of Victorian philanthropy. We’re off to volunteer to pilot the local air ambulance. Huzzah!.

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes
Skill level: easy
Serves: 2

Ingredients

• 2 aubergines – cut into 2cm cubes
• extra virgin olive oil – 3 tbsp
• 410g can of chick peas – rinsed and drained (or soak and cook dried chick peas)
• 1 lemon – peel and pith removed – roughly chopped
• 1 clove of garlic – crushed
• tahini – 1 tbsp
• fresh mint – a generous handful – shredded
• halloumi – 250g pack – cut into 8 slices
• rocket – 100g

Mix together the aubergine cubes and olive oil, season and place in a large non-stick frying pan.

Cook over a medium heat for 15 – 25 minutes or until the aubergine is soft and light brown.

Set aside to cool.

Meanwhile put the chick peas in a large bowl and gently crush with a potato masher.

Add the lemon (including juice), tahini, garlic, mint, seasoning and mix together.

Add the cooled cooked aubergine and combine all the ingredients.

Next place a griddle over a medium heat and dry fry the halloumi for a minute or two on each side. (If it doesn’t look like the diagram, throw away and start again)

To serve, place some rocket on the plate, spoon over the aubergine salad and top with the halloumi. Garnish with a few mint leaves.

Verdict: A quick, easy, tasty and healthy midweek meal which could become a regular on the menu here at Yumblog Towers… be generous with the mint.

Drink: A bottle of red.

Entertainment: ‘Celebrity Masterchef’, week 2. Mark Little is charming. Danielle ‘I shag footballers for a living‘ Lloyd isn’t.