This is one of my favorite all-weather gluten-free meals and an adaptation from Donna Hay’s recipe from her book Life in Balance.
Halloumi – which is a kind of Greek cheese made of sheep’s milk – makes the recipe filling, while being gluten-free. I imagine, one could use soft, grill-able cheeses like feta or paneer, but I haven’t tried it out.
Initially, I followed Donna Hay’s recipe word-for-word, but I’ve made it enough number of times to try out my own variations and also simplify it. Hay’s version uses sage and thyme to season the broccoli, mine is more straight-forward; I use only thyme and also don’t cook the broccoli in vegetable stock, among other things.
Here’s my recipe for Roasted broccoli with Halloumi.
Serves 2.
Ingredients:
2 heads of broccoli (10-15 cms in diameter)
3 stalks of leek
50 ml apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
7-8 sprigs of thyme
250g Halloumi
3 tablespoons olive oil plus some more for drizzling
Salt and pepper to taste
Make it:
Begin with washing and slicing the leek into one-cm-wide rings. You could include the green parts or leave them out, but I find that the green parts also taste good and add bulk and texture to the recipe.
Separate the leaves from 3-4 sprigs of the thyme.
In a large pan, pour the olive oil and heat to a medium temperature. Throw in the sliced leek and thyme and stir for a bit until coated with oil. Cover the pan and let the mixture cook until the leek slices are soft and transparent (about 10 minutes).
Add the apple cider vinegar, salt and pepper and stir. Add sugar and turn on the heat high enough so that the leek doesn’t burn but the sugar caramelizes and the leek slices turn slightly brown. I take the mixture off the heat when the vinegar has evaporated and the leek is soft and moist.
Keep aside.
Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and in the meantime, blanche the broccoli in boiling water for about five minutes and slice the Halloumi.
Cover the bottom of an oven-proof pan or glass dish with the leek slices, Place the broccoli heads and make slits if the gaps between the broccoli’s florets are not too wide.
Fit in pieces of Halloumi and the leek filling. Finally, drizzle with some olive oil, salt and pepper and sprinkle the remaining thyme.
Bake for about 20 minutes or until the Halloumi is golden-brown.
Remove from oven and serve – as a meal by itself or with gluten-free bread.
Nutritional value
| Nutrition Facts | |
|---|---|
| Servings: 2 | |
| Amount per serving | |
| Calories | 470 |
| % Daily Value* | |
| Total Fat 34.8g | 45% |
| Saturated Fat 5.6g | 28% |
| Cholesterol 0mg | 0% |
| Sodium 66mg | 3% |
| Total Carbohydrate 33.9g | 12% |
| Dietary Fiber 5.6g | 20% |
| Total Sugars 14g | |
| Protein 11g | |
| Vitamin D 0mcg | 0% |
| Calcium 141mg | 11% |
| Iron 4mg | 22% |
| Potassium 629mg | 13% |
| *The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calorie a day is used for general nutrition advice. | |
| Recipe analyzed by | |