Smoky Grilled Vegetables with Haloumi and Olive Chermoula

Steaks, chops, burgers, sausage, BACON! Yes, considerable quantities of meat were served on the farm. In the early years, the folks raised both cattle and hogs. Daddy was comfortable enough with the whole mess to butcher a hog himself, memorable because I was permitted to poke around in what would later become the cracklins…which my mother didn’t let us eat anyway; perhaps because I had poked around in them, more likely because they were fried and contained copious amounts of fat. Or because they were actually intestines presented under the much happier moniker of “pork rinds,“ perhaps? And Daddy certainly knew his way around butchering chickens, tying several by their feet onto the clothesline, before giving them the Marie Antoinette treatment. Cattle were sent out to a processing house, returning home in innocent, neatly labeled butcher paper packages to reside in the freezer until eaten.

Given this background, it’s a bit of a shock that I am… well… somewhat squeamish about preparing meat. I suspect there would be many more vegetarians if meat had to be raised and killed in order to eat it. As a home economics teacher, it always cracked me up that students did not know that meat is the muscle of an actual animal; several vegetarians were born each year during the “meat unit.”

I ate a largely vegetarian diet for several years; not a particularly good one, relying substantially on pasta, cheese and eggs. Might have been a few veggies mixed in there somewhere… And no one was fooled-my husband and kids chowed down on meat in any situation in which it was offered. Like, for instance, my husband’s clandestine visits to the Taco Bell on the route home from work. We returned to a meatier diet on the advice of the dietician after my daughter’s diagnosis of Type 1 diabetes.

Today? Plant based diets are everywhere. While one group questions the carbs, others question the meat. The issues of health, agriculture and sustainability have juxtaposed at this unique moment, causing people to more closely examine what they are eating. Meatless meals have grown beyond fad status-they are now downright chic. Several restaurants in our city offer only vegetarian or vegan menus. Heaven help us, even fast food purveyors are filling buns with realistic meatless patties doused in special sauce. Personally, we have come to a place where we eat two or three meatless dinners a week, this time featuring more whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds, along with the requisite vegetables. Often, small amounts of meat or cheese are used, primarily as a condiment rather than as entrée.

One meatless dish we prepare that was greeted with enthusiasm by the whole family was simple grilled vegetables with sliced cheese and good bread. A variety of vegetables to suit everyone’s taste could be included, and the veggies developed a delicious smoky char from the grill. This recipe is an adult take, vegetables marinated with abundant herbs and topped with an olive chermoula. The browned Haloumi cheese cubes become chewy croutons, and the crispy chickpeas offer up the perfect crunch. This is a versatile dish, which can be served on its own, over a whole grain of choice, or with good bread on the side. It’s a great late summer meal.

While we still eat meat, the husband does much of the knife wielding. I might add though, that I continue to chop a mean vegetable.

Smoky Grilled Vegetables with Haloumi and Olive Chermoula

Lightly charred vegetables with an olive and herb dressing, Haloumi croutons and crisp chickpeas
Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time15 minutes
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Mediterranean
Servings: 4 ser
Author: Mary Kay Allen

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup garlic infused olive oil
  • 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
  • 2 tsp freshly grated lemon zest
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • 1/2 tsp thyme leaves
  • 3/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
  • 1 tsp chili flake
  • 3 lbs. vegetables, sliced for grilling; eggplant, red bell pepper, zucchini, red onion, portobello mushroom

  • 3 tbsp chopped green olives
  • 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
  • 2 tbsp chopped parsley
  • 6 oz Haloumi cheese
  • 1/4 cup crispy chickpeas

Instructions

  • Combine olive oil through chili flake in a
    medium bowl and whisk until well blended.
    Remove and reserve 1/3 cup of the mixture to make the
    chermoula, and brush/pour the remainder over the sliced vegetables. Marinate up
    to several hours.




  • Combine the reserved marinade with the olives, cilantro, parsley
    and 2 tablespoons water to make the chermoula.


     














  • Prepare a gas or charcoal grill for the vegetables. Start
    them over the hottest area to char, then move around to the edges of the grill
    to soften and become tender.








  • Slice the Haloumi into ½-inch and brown on all sides in a medium
    hot skillet.








  • Arrange the vegetables attractively on a platter and spoon
    the chermoula over them.  Place the
    browned cubes of Haloumi randomly over the vegetables. Sprinkle with the crunchy chickpeas and serve.


     






 

 

 

 

 

Mexican Rice and Black Bean Salad

 

More and final musings on “Why Cook?”

I have been a lifelong cook, primarily because I enjoy it. I enjoy being creative with flavors; when I am playing with my food, one never knows-could be tremendous, could be horrendous…I am thankful that I can cook, though, because over the years I have had to accommodate diet for varying medical conditions.

My mother prepared at least two variations on the meal each evening. One was for my father, who had ulcers along with then unknown IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) and reflux disease. Since next to nothing was actually known about these digestive issues, his diet was bland; picture a hospital tray prepared with a bit of my mother’s finesse. For the rest of us, the meal was usually a bit more inspired, and certainly better seasoned. Today, many people need food prepared for specific dietary concerns, more than ever before.

I have learned the hard way, several times over. When my beautiful daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at the grand old age of eleven, the whole family was thrown into a tizzy. During her week in the hospital, all we managed to learn was how to give practice shots to oranges. (And not very well, at that.) Our first post-diagnosis grocery trip took hours, as my husband and I studied nutrition labels in horror. What in heaven’s name had we been eating up to then? I was so grateful at that point that I not only knew how to cook, my bachelor’s degree had included concentrated study in the science of food and nutrition. Because now, each and every gram of carbohydrate had to be accounted for to figure the exact dose of insulin, and there were limits to the grams of carb that could be eaten at each meal. Let’s see, there’s 13 grams of carb in a cup of milk, 24 grams in ¼ cup of flour… Uh, yeah. We stockpiled cookbooks and magazines in which the carb counts were already included. If you made changes to the recipe, the carbs had to be re-calculated…

Fast forward to now. While conditions like IBS and reflux disease supposedly don’t have a basis in genetics, I have followed in the old man’s footsteps with both, and my unfortunate adult son is well on the way to following mine. I have spent years trying to decipher what might explain my digestive issues and what I should and should not be eating. Be careful for what you ask! My new gastroenterologist pointed me in the direction of the FODMAP elimination diet, which made more than clear that several classes of carbs were culprits. So I am back to cooking for specific dietary needs, now for myself.

Enter this salad. A recipe for kidney bean and rice salad has long been a favorite of my husband. But beans? Hard to digest. And garlic as the major seasoning? Can’t digest that either. Yes, you heard that right. I can use garlic infused oil, but no cloves of garlic. Compensating for the loss of that strong a flavor basically meant starting over. Time to play with the food…     A Mexican flavor profile has the potency to substitute for the garlic heavy French one. Sprouting powerfully improves both the digestibility and available nutrition of beans, and I receive easy-to-sprout fresh black beans in my CSA box.* Black beans and corn in tandem are delicious. Add in some roasted poblanos, diced serranos, and avocado. Dinner is done and everyone can eat it. And thankfully, there are no hospital trays in sight!

Mexican Rice and Black Bean Salad

Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time45 minutes
Total Time1 hour 15 minutes
Course: Entree Salad
Servings: 4 -6 servings

Ingredients

  • 1-½ cups cooked brown rice
  • 2 cups cooked black beans from dry beans or canned
  • 2 ears of corn stripped from the cob (can use canned or frozen)
  • 1 roasted poblano pepper chopped
  • ¼ cup diced red bell pepper
  • 1 tablespoon diced Serrano pepper
  • ¼ cup sliced celery
  • 1 scallion thinly sliced
  • Dressing
  • 2 tablespoons garlic infused oil can substitute fresh diced garlic clove and olive oil
  • 1- tablespoon lime juice
  • 2 teaspoons orange juice
  • pinch each of salt pepper, cumin and oregano
  • Avocado and tomato for serving

Instructions

  • Combine all ingredients through scallions in a large mixing bowl. Whisk together the dressing ingredients, toss with the salad and chill. Serve on plates with sliced tomato and avocado.

 

*I start with the freshest dry beans I can find. The beans I get in my CSA box are always fresh and sprout easily. I also have had good performance from Rancho Gordo beans, available online at  https://www.ranchogordo.com/ 

Using a quart jar with a sprouting jar strainer lid, soak the beans for 8 hours, then strain the water. Rinse and strain the beans 3-4 times a day until small white plant sprouts appear. Cook as usual.

Farro Salad with Moroccan Spices

Farro Salad with Moroccan Spices
Farro Salad with Moroccan Spices

Moving to the desert southwest, we expected a few Saguaro, prickly pear, and Palo Verde trees. A few agave, teddy bear cacti-the typical palate of Sonoran flora and fauna. We did in fact have all those plants on our property. What we did not expect was a full grove of seven mature citrus trees. Other than watering and fertilizing, we somehow ignored the rapidly growing golden globes until last November. Then the harvest started, we were drowning in tangerines, and the old farm ethos kicked in…

Everything we grew on the farm was either eaten or preserved. While weeding, picking and preparing vegetables for the table was often my responsibility, the preserving of the harvest was a daily job throughout the summer for my mother and me. Most of the produce had to be cleaned, shucked, blanched and shocked before freezing in stackable boxes. Tomatoes and their juice had to be steam peeled, cooked and strained before pouring into freshly sterilized jars and going into the canner.

These steamy activities took place in a big old non-air conditioned kitchen, accompanied by average heat in the upper eighties with humidity to match. While others might attribute their lovely skin to avoiding the sun and not smoking, I know better. My skin has remained relatively smooth well into my…well, let’s call it “advanced middle age,” because I lived in a steam bath all summer for the first two decades of my life.

So now my husband is proudly carting basket upon basket of citrus fruit into our new kitchen, just as my dad did with vegetables years ago on the farm. I was dubious about the pride, for this fruit had basically grown itself, but the piles of citrus remained all the same. He was also expecting with great anticipation that I would know what to do with all of it. Uh, yeah. Our friends quickly realized that while an invitation to dinner at our house might mean a delicious meal, the exit ticket would be grabbing a bag of citrus fruit on their way out the door…

Eventually we had to face the preservation of all this fruit. We zested and juiced abundant amounts, which we froze for later use. I tested recipes and made jars of freezer citrus curd. The husband continues the quest for the perfect limoncello. And then there were the preserved lemons… The harvest ended around April, so now we are enjoying the fruits of our labor, so to speak.

Preserved lemons are a unique product, perhaps new to many Westerners. They are typically used in Middle Eastern dishes such as tagines. Classically combined in long braises with meat, chickpeas and olives, they lend a deep lemony umami that is both unfamiliar and delicious. Their production is basically a fermentation process using salt, lemons and seasonings. While I would not have made them myself had I not been wrestling with bushels of lemons, you are welcome to have at it should you be so inclined. (Let it be noted that I have purchased them in the past at Trader Joes…)

The process I used can be found at: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1016212-preserved-lemons

Now deep umami braises are just peachy in the desert in January. In July?At 108° F.? Not so much. Which is how a lunchtime salad was born this week. Whole grains, vegetables, and maximum flavor with none of the hot steaminess, thank the heavens above.

Farro Salad with Moroccan Spices

Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time30 minutes
Total Time1 hour
Course: Salad
Servings: 4 servings

Ingredients

  • ¾ cup farro
  • 2-¼ water or broth
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons diced preserved lemon peel
  • 6 grape tomatoes
  • ¼ cup chopped green olives
  • ¼ cup sliced celery
  • ½ cup sliced green onion
  • ½ cup chopped parsley
  • 2 cups cubed cooked chicken or drained chickpeas for a vegetarian version
  • Dressing:
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil I use garlic infused oil for one of the three
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • ¼ teaspoon each of:
  • Cumin
  • Coriander
  • Cayenne
  • Leaf thyme
  • Grated lemon zest
  • ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  • Rinse the farro grains, then add to the water or broth in a saucepan along with the salt. Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer and cook for approximately 30 minutes, or until tender but still chewy. Drain and turn into a large mixing bowl. Cool slightly. Add the remaining salad ingredients and combine gently.
  • Whisk the dressing ingredients together and pour over the salad. Stir gently to coat with dressing. Cover and chill until ready to serve.

 

To make gluten-free: substitute brown or forbidden black rice for the farro.