homemade flatbreads with grilled haloumi + a salad of tomato + chickpeas

Yikes. Where do I start?

I want to open a little Middle Eastern roadside stall.

I’ll set up my giant paella pan and’ll stand there cooking perfectly fresh flatbreads made to order before smothering a generous blob of garlic-y hummus on top and then piling it up high with this sweet, sticky and salty grilled haloumi. It’ll be finished off with a burst of spicy, herby goodness, in the form of this chickpea and tomato salad.

How good would that be.

Those of you that have been following Lo’s Kitchen for a while now, would know how much of a fan I am of Rick Stein. I get lost in his travel programs, having seen every episode more times than I care to admit. I have just about every one of his cookbooks. I love how his recipes are all about good and honest home cooking, using ingredients you can get your hands on and that you find yourself making time and time again.

Here I used his flatbread recipe (however found that I preferred how they turned out when I cooked them in my heavy cast iron pan on the stove top instead of in the oven) and the salad is one from his ‘Venice to Istanbul’ cookbook that he calls “David’s salad” (given to him by his director, Dave). Who of course I’ve never met but seems like a good bloke from what I’ve seen on telly. I love his British sense of humour and the banter he has with Rick on air. (I love how he’s always looking for a simple plate of bacon and eggs when they’ve been filming in India for weeks on end and how he’s always paying Rick out for the cost of seafood in his restaurants). Reckon I’d like to have a beer with them both.

Back to the business at hand. I’ve chosen to cook the haloumi for this dish, the way my sister Elles cooks it. Pan fried in olive oil with freshly cracked pepper, fresh thyme, lemon juice and a drizzle of honey. She’s the haloumi queen and will often turn up to family get togethers with a big slab of haloumi in her bag to throw into salads.

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do. Invite some friends over this weekend and get cooking. You won’t be disappointed, I promise.

Domestic goddess/god in the making.

But back to that street food stall idea.. one can dream.

homemade flatbreads with grilled haloumi + a salad of tomato + chickpeas

homemade flatbreads
(using yeast) makes 6-8

500 grams of strong bread flour, sifted
A good pinch of salt
A good pinch of sugar
1 x 7g sachet of dried yeast
275 ml of lukewarm water
60 ml of olive oil

• Add the sifted flour, salt, sugar and dried yeast into a large mixing bowl and stir together using a fork.
• Make a well in the centre and pour in the water and olive oil, stirring as you go until it comes together to form a dough (using your hands once it gets too tricky with the fork).
• Simply knead on a clean, dry bench top (dusted with some flour so that it doesn’t stick) until you have a nice and soft, elastic dough. This should take a little under ten minutes or so.
• Place in a large mixing bowl that you’ve added a drizzle of olive oil into and pop some cling wrap over the top. Place in a nice warm part of the kitchen (near the window in the sun if possible) and leave it to rise to double it’s size. This should take about an hour.
• Then simply divide the dough into six (if you want large flat breads) or eight (if you want them slightly smaller) and using a rolling pin (or a wine bottle if you don’t own a rolling pin), roughly roll out till you have a loose round shape that’s about 3mm thick and fits into your pan. (The rougher the better here in my opinion. I love the rustic, homemade look).
• Then take a heavy cast iron frying pan and pop it on the hob, getting it nice and hot. Adding a dash of olive oil and swirling it around to cover the pan, simple pop the flat bread in and cook for a couple of minutes over a high heat until you start to see it browning, and air bubbles start to appear. Flip it over and cook on the other side. Serve immediately.
• (Alternatively, you can cook the flatbreads in the oven – on a flat baking sheet that you’ve preheated so that it’s nice and hot. This should only take about 5 minutes to cook in a hot oven).

ellen’s haloumi

I’m not going to tell you how much to cook here as it honestly depends on how many people you’re wanting to feed. I’ve never been anywhere where haloumi has been served and there’s been any leftovers. It’s so good.

Sliced haloumi
The juice of a lemon
A drizzle of honey
A drizzle of olive oil
Fresh thyme sprigs
Freshly cracked pepper

• In a non stick fry pan, add a dash of olive oil and pan fry the haloumi, in batches, until nicely browned on one side. Working quickly so as not to burn it, add the lemon juice, honey, thyme and season well with pepper. Ready once both sides are browned slightly. Drizzle the leftover pan juices over the top and serve immediately.

salad of tomato + chickpeas

1 x 400 gram tin of chickpeas, drained
A couple of fresh tomatoes, roughly chopped
Some red onion, finely sliced
A good handful of fresh coriander and /or parsley (you really, really need these fresh herbs, the dish is simply not the same without them)
1 x garlic clove, sliced
A drizzle of olive oil
A few shakes of fish sauce
A sprinkling of chilli flakes or fresh chilli (to taste)
The juice of a lemon
Salt and freshly cracked pepper

• I love this salad as you simply through everything into a bowl and stir. Serve immediately.
  

Serve the flatbreads, haloumi and salad with some hummus and sliced cucumber. Dig in.