Freekeh Salad with Radishes, Sprouted Cabbage and Halloumi

Here’s the thing of it: I love pasta. I love pasta always. I love it to the point where I, not infrequently, make it for breakfast. Not just eat leftovers for breakfast, but actually make a fresh pot of pasta. Before 9am.

It’s a problem.

Normally I’ve balanced this obsession with working a very active job.  In kitchens or serving in restaurants, you’re required to run around like a crazy person for at least 6, and up to 14 hours a day. But since working for myself, two days a week are spent almost entirely in a car. One day a week I’m on my feet but mostly sedentary, at a farmers market booth.

So I’m trying to make some healthy changes. Do I want to eat pasta 4 nights a week. Without question. But I’m trying guys. I’m trying.

This salad is a solid replacement. It’s warm, high in fat (good fat mostly!), filled with protein, and most importantly, it’s full of flavour. It’s super fresh tasting from the lemon, but the cumin and coriander round it out. The nuttiness from the freekeh is balanced wonderfully with the salty fried cheese, and I love the crunch of the radishes and the cashews. On top of it all it fills me to the point where I don’t dream about pasta 30 minutes after consumption. Which is pretty great in my books.

Serves 4

2 cups dried Freekeh

2 tbsp neutral oil (canola, avacado etc.)

Juice of 1 large Lemon

¾ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 tsp Ground Cumin

1 tsp Ground Coriander

1 clove Garlic

1 bunch Radishes, cut in halves or quarters, depending on size

1 bunch Cabbage Sprouts- or Broccoli Rabe, or Broccollini, whatever you have!

½ cup Cashews, roasted and coarsely chopped

1 package Halloumi, cut into ½ inch thick slices.

1 large avacado, cored, peeled and sliced.

Bring a medium pot with 4 cups of water to a boil. Add freekeh in with a healthy pinch of salt. Bring to a simmer, put the lid on it, and turn the heat to low.

Cook until all the water has evaporated, about 20 minutes.

Mince the clove of garlic finely, (I smash them up with a pinch of salt, you can do that or not- up to you!)

In the bottom of a large bowl mix together the garlic, lemon, cumin, coriander and a pinch of salt.

Slowly whisk in the olive oil. It will look like an enormous amount of dressing, but the freekeh will absorb tons of it. Adjust for seasoning- adding a bit more acid or olive oil or salt depending.

Add the cooked freekeh and radishes to the dressing.

Cut the cabbage or broccoli into 2 inch pieces. Heat a large pan (preferably cast iron) over medium high heat.

Add 1 tbsp of the neutral oil and then add in the cabbage or broccoli with a healthy pinch of salt. Toss a few times and cook for about 5 minutes, or until the the stems are cooked and some of the leaves are nicely browned. Add them to the dressing.

In the same pan, add the remaining oil. Lay the halloumi out and fry until it’s nicely browned, then flip it over.

Remove from heat and cut into strips.

Serve freekeh in 4 bowls, topped with the halloumi, sliced avocado, and cashews.

Sunday Salads- Thai Style Coleslaw with Lime and Peanuts

Here’s the thing of it: I work almost all the time, and always at weird hours. It’s just the way my life is these days. Somedays I start at 5am and some days I finish work at midnight, which has lead me to some very strange eating patterns. Most of them involve a whole lot more sugar than I will ever admit to on this very public forum because, if we’re being real here, I’m totally unwilling to admit it to myself.

But I struggle, as I know a lot of people do, with working long hours and trying to eat vegetables at the same time. Some people, like my sister, buy their veggies pre-cut because it saves time. But you get totally subpar vegetables if they were cut 5 days ago, so I’ve resisted this, and instead, I’m getting into salads and things that aren’t full of delicate greens, but instead are full of hearty veg that stay crisp even when you dress them. The sort of salads that you can make in a big bowl and continue eating for a couple days. The kind of salad that eat with dinner on Sunday night and eat left overs for Tuesday lunch in between your baking shift and your serving shift when your too exhausted to much of anything but eat and sleep.

And if you’re that tired, as I seem to be an awful lot lately, I figure it’s better to eat coleslaw than it is to eat left over meringues. Especially if said coleslaw isn’t the Southern mayo kind, but the Asian sort, dressed in nothing but lime, soy, and peanut oil.

Thai-Style Coleslaw

1/2 head Purple Cabbage

1 bunch Green Onions

1/4 cup Cilantro

1/2 cup Roasted Peanuts, peeled

Juice of 1 lime

2 tbsp Peanut Oil, or other neutral oil, like Canola

1 tbsp Soy

Fish Sauce, optional, to taste.

Mix together the lime, soy, and fish sauce if using in a large bowl. Add in the oil and taste to check the seasoning. Adjust if you need it (I used a bit more soy, but I am a salt fiend…)

Thinly slice the cabbage by hand, using a mandolin, or the slicing attachment of a food processor.

Add it into the bowl with the dressing.

Thinly slice the green onions on a bias and mix them in too.

Chop the cilantro and the peanuts and put them on the top.

C’est finis, so simple, and so delicious, and it will keep getting better for about 3-4 days in the fridge.