#LetsGetFoodieChallenge Week Two

The amazing Amanda Bootes has created a fun blogger challenge series called the Lets Get Foodie Challenge. Each challenger is given one to two weeks to complete the set challenge. This week is all about National Vegetarian Week (18th - 24th May 2015), and we were challenged by Amanda to produce a dish with something green in it!

For this weeks entry, I moved away from the classics and went more rustic, putting a spin on a Jamie Oliver recipe that I've made countless times before! Usually when I make this dish, I also make a homemade pesto (also a Jamie recipe) as well, so why not make it this time! So...here it is...my spin on Jamie Oliver's Grilled Halloumi, Spinach & Toasted Seed Salad with Homemade Parmesan Pesto!

Ingredients

for the pesto

1/2 Clove Garlic

Sea Salt

Ground Black Pepper

3 Handfuls Fresh Basil

1 Handful Pine Nuts

1 Handful Parmesan Cheese

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1/2 Lemon

for the salad

1 Handful Sunflower Seeds

2 Small Carrots

1 Bulb Fennel

4 Handfuls Baby Spinach

100g Fresh Podded Peas

250g Halloumi

1 Lemon

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Sea Salt

Ground Black Pepper

Recipe | Pesto

1 | Pound the garlic with a little pinch of salt, pepper and the basil leaves in a pestle and mortar. Add the pine nuts to the mixture and pound again. Add half the Parmesan and stir gently and add the olive oil - you need just enough to blend the pesto together, not make it oily. Add the rest of the cheese and squeeze in a small squeeze of lemon juice at the end - and you're all done! Tasty, and incredibly simple!

Recipe | Salad

1 | Toast the seeds in a dry pan over a high heat, moving them around the pan from time to time so they don't burn. This will only take a couple of minutes. Put to one side. Using a speed peeler, cut the carrots and the fennel bulb into this ribbons. If you're using peas in a pod, pod them.

2 | Slightly wilt your spinach for about a minute, and warm up your vegetables for a couple of minutes in a pan with a minute amount of oil. Cut your halloumi into centimetre thick pieces and place on a hot griddle or frying pan with a minute amount of oil for about one minute on each side. The cheese will soften slightly as it cooks, so turn carefully.

3 | Put your vegetables on a large plate and dress with a good squeeze of lemon, and a pinch of salt and pepper before tossing together. Add the halloumi chunks on top, followed by a sprinkling of the seeds - you can mix it all together if you like.

I hope you enjoyed this slightly different way of doing a Jamie Oliver classic for my second #LetsGetFoodieChallenge entry for National Vegetarian Week 2015! Go and check out the challenge and get more info from Amanda's blog here.