It’s a ‘balmy’ 39 degrees Celsius in Perth today (that’s 102.2 F) and just thinking about cooking is enough to make me cry. I won’t be switching the oven or stove on today! Yesterday, however, was a much more manageable 32C, and having spent some time in the sea, I felt inspired to make a Spanish dish we enjoyed in Barcelona some years back – but adapted a fair bit to stretch it, and use what we have in the house too.
The original was a Chorizo and calamari in red wine tapas dish, but this summerified recipe includes Halloumi – you could probably use Feta too or leave out the Halloumi, but it adds saltiness, texture and flavour to the meal. And I’d include Halloumi in everything if my family allowed it!
The amounts in this recipe are a guide, really, and there’s no wrong or right. You can add ingredients – tomatoes would be nice, capers would be lovely too – or remove elements. It all works together beautifully, but none of it is essential.
The Chorizo in our local butcher isn’t very fatty. If it was I would have added the butter for the dressing to it, but as it didn’t leave any drippings, I added olive oil.
- 1 red onion, sliced
- 90g (1 bag) Rocket leaves
- 15g parsley, roughly chopped
- 250g chorizo, sliced
- 250g Halloumi, cubed
- 500g calamari, cleaned and cut into rings
- 60ml Red wine vinegar (1/4 cup)
- For the dressing
- 50g butter
- 1 clove garlic
- Thinly slice one red onion, and pour over 30ml red wine vinegar. Set aside.
- Heat up a frying pan to medium to high heat and add a dash of oil, just to prevent the food from sticking to it.
- Empty salad leaves into a bowl, add the chopped parsley and set aside. Add any ‘extras’ you might want to use.
- When the frying pan is hot, add the Halloumi and keep an eye on it so that it doesn’t burn, but browns on both sides. When it’s ready, remove from the heat and tip out onto the salad leaves.
- Add the Chorizo, and the remaining red wine vinegar, and cook for about 3 – 4 minutes: just long enough to render the fat, but not so long as to make it hard and tough.
- Remove from the heat into the salad bowl.
- If the Chorizo left some fatty residue, use it, but if not, add some olive oil to the pan again. This time fry the calamari till it is soft and tender – about 3-5 minutes, depending on the quality and size of the calamari rings.
- While the calamari is cooking, add about 50g butter and 1 chopped clove of garlic to a small pan (I chop the garlic in the Thermomix, then add butter, and melt for 90 seconds 50C) to melt the butter.
- Add the calamari to the salad, and pour over the butter dressing. Toss the salad, serve & enjoy.
I poured 25g of raw cacao nibs into the Thermomix and ground it on speed 10 for one minute. I could vaguely smell the chocolate. I then brewed the powder as I would any coffee, and tentatively took a sip. Well. It tasted of nothing. And not a very good nothing. I added sugar and milk and it tasted of nothing, with sugar and milk. Fail.
I particularly love the fact that I know exactly what goes in to these Slushy treats.There’s no colouring, sugar or preservatives unless I add them myself. It’ so easy to do, literally, even a child can do it. Here are some of our favourite snacks to make in the Slushy maker: