This is one of my go-to summer recipes. It fits my philosophy rather than simply ticking nutritional boxes. It looks like a salad and includes several great vegetables, but it’s an oven roast which makes the vegetables produce great flavour and taste delicious. I also think it’s easier to digest than some salads. It consists of many whole foods, is naturally low in carbohydrates, high in healthy fat, rich in vegetables and herbs and quick enough to make for lunch or dinner. It’s comforting and indulgent without the carbs, with the tomatoes and aubergine becoming sweet and the halloumi providing a golden crust. It’s a good Mediterranean influenced dish and a staple in my household.
Ingredients (organic where possible)
- Vegetables: Mushrooms mixed variety, cherry tomatoes on the vine, red bell pepper, Baby spinach
- Protein: Pumpkin seeds, Sunflower seeds
- Dairy: halloumi cheese, feta cheese
- Healthy fats: Extra virgin olive oil, olives
- Herbs and spices: Daily Longevity Base (an Ayurvedic mix of ginger, turmeric, triphala, black pepper, fennel, cumin, coriander seeds, which I buy in seeds, ground and keep in a jar, ready to be used for every meal I cook)
How to Cook
Preheat the oven to 190°C fan.
ROAST
- Wash the aubergine, red pepper and tomatoes thoroughly, especially if they’re not organic.
- Aubergine, red pepper, mushrooms: cut all of them to around the same sizes, chunky squares will be great.
- Place aubergines, red pepper, tomatoes and mushrooms as a single layer on an oven try. I use two glass dishes to give them enough space to avoid steaming. Avoid teflon or non-stick trays as these leak tiny amounts of toxic materials into your food, diminishing the goodness.
- Add one generous tablespoon of the Daily Longevity Base and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil. Gently mix.
- The cheese and olives make this dish salty enough so I don’t add any salt.
- Roast for around 45 mins.
OVEN
- Move all vegetables into a smaller deep glass oven dish as if you’re making a lasagne.
- Stir the vegetables so the spices and herbs and juices all blend together.
- Roughly chop a handful of black olives and add to the mix
- Cut thick cubes of halloumi and feta cheese and add to the top of the dish
- Move back into the oven, 200°C fan for 15 mins
SERVE
- Wash a handful or more baby spinach, leave them on a paper towel to dry for a few mins
- Place the baby spinach on a serving dish
- Add a serving of the oven dish on top of the spinach pile
- Top with pumpkin and sunflower seeds