Spring Quinoa Tabbouleh with Halloumi and Roast Fennel

Naming this delicious plateful of springtime flavours is a bit of a mouthful in itself. Really it is “Quinoa Tabbouleh Salad with Dukkah Crusted Halloumi and Lemon Roasted Fennel.” I was concerned people would fall asleep before even finishing the title. Although it may seem like a lot, it’s an easy recipe and all the herby, nutty, lemony flavours combine so well its well worth the time (and dishes!).

Serves 4

For the Tabbouleh:

1 cup quinoa (rinsed)

2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

juice of 1 lemon (about 1/2 cup)

rind of 1 lemon

1 1/2 cups boiling water

big handful of fresh parsley, finely chopped

big handful of fresh mint, finely chopped

2 spring onions (sliced finely)

1/3 cup of diced cucumber

1/3 cup of thin asparagus, chopped into 1cm bits

A few cherry tomatoes

seasoning to taste

rocket/lambs lettuce/spinach or which ever leaves you prefer

1/4 cup toasted pine nuts

For the Halloumi:

Dukkah

200g halloumi, sliced into 1/2 cm slices

For the Lemon Roast Fennel:

2 large fennel bulbs, sliced lengthways into 1cm steaks

1 lemon, thinly sliced

olive oil

seasoning to taste

Pre-heat oven to 180c.

Lay the fennel sliced out on a greaseproof paper lined baking tray. Rub each slice with a slice of lemon then lay the lemon slices on top of the fennel. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle sea salt and black pepper on top. Roast in the oven for about 25-3o minutes.

Cook the rinsed quinoa in the lemon juice, apple cider vinegar and boiling water until all liquid is absorbed. Take it off the heat and stir through a tablespoon of olive oil, seasoning, and the lemon rind. Once the quinoa is cooled add the herbs and veggies then stir it all together and serve on top of the leaves.

Get a frying pan really hot before adding the halloumi. While one side cooks sprinkle dukkah on top of the uncooked side. Turn it over after a couple of minutes and cook the next side a little less so the dukkah doesn’t burn.

Add the halloumi and fennel to the tabbouleh salad and garnish with some extra parsley and pine nuts.

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22 Mar This entry was published on March 22, 2015 at 9:42 pm. It’s filed under dinner, gluten free, healthy, lunch, salad, vegetarian and tagged dukkah, fennel, food photography, gluten free, halloumi, herbivore, meatless monday, quinoa, roast vegetables, salad, spring, summer, tabbouleh, vegan, vegetarian. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.