Courgette and halloumi tacos with green salsa and feta
A zingy summer dinner, ways to make it into a feast for friends, and an Indian-Irish restaurant recommendation
If you’ve found yourself with a glut of courgettes recently, you’ll probably be bored out of your mind trying to use them in all sorts of meals to avoid the dreaded *food waste* issue. As lovely as they are, if you’re growing them yourself, getting them as part of your seasonal veg box from Oddbox, or just cooking for one (which can often mean lots of one ingredient leftover), you’ll find yourself with at least one or two courgettes slowly softening away in your fridge during the summer months.
That’s where I found myself at the weekend. I’ve been feeling very inspired by Elly Curshen’s rollover leftover series on Instagram, and so I’ve been trying to use all the odds and ends in my fridge as creatively as possible in a bid to make leftovers less boring. When I was considering how to make the now-soft texture of my sad little yellow courgettes come to life, I thought some sort of combination of chilli and lime would give them a much-needed lift. And with that initial thought, this courgette and halloumi taco recipe was born. In the spirit of not wasting the food in your fridge, if you’ve got other soft herbs then they’d absolutely be welcome in the salsa, and if you’ve only got red chillies instead of green then please don’t let them go to waste, and instead of buying a whole new pack of green chillies, enjoy the little flecks of red adorning your griddled vegetables. When it comes to feta, Elly actually has a brilliant marinated feta recipe that’ll keep the quick-to-go-off cheese fresh for weeks, so go and make that.
Courgette and halloumi tacos with green salsa and feta
Serves one
175g courgette
110g halloumi
1 tbsp olive oil
1/8 tsp smoked chilli (or you can use smoked paprika)
1/8 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp ground cumin
a pinch of cinnamon
a pinch of oregano
2 spring onions
1/2 tbsp fresh coriander
1 sprig of fresh mint
1 green chilli
1/2 a lime
1/4 of a ripe avocado
30g feta
3 mini tortillas
Slice your courgette lengthways into 0.5cm-thick slices and add to a large bowl. Slice your halloumi into similar-sized sliced and add to the bowl along with the olive oil, spices and some salt and pepper. Give it a good stir to coat the veg and halloumi and set aside.
Set a griddle or frying pan on a medium heat and wait until it’s nice and hot. Add the courgette first, making sure you’re not crowding the pan. Cook for four minutes on each side, until there are nice char marks (if you’re using the griddle pan). Once cooked, set aside on a plate (you can keep it in the oven on a low heat to keep warm if you like) and cook the rest of the courgette, then the halloumi for three minutes on each side. You might need to add a little more oil to the pan in between batches.
Meanwhile, finely slice the spring onions, coriander, mint leaves and green chilli and add to a small bowl with the lime juice, some salt and a drizzle of olive oil. Finely dice your avocado and add to the bowl.
Warm the tortillas on the hob, then fill them with the courgette, halloumi and salsa. Crumble over some feta to serve.
Elote
Keeping on with the summer veg theme, some elote would go down a treat with these tacos. The Mexican street corn dish can be made in the classic style with whole corn on the cobs with the creamy, cheesy topping, or as a corn salad.
Spicy margs
I know I’ve recommended these before, but I just love ‘em and I think the distinct green-ness of a green chilli-spiked margarita would work beautifully with these zingy tacos. I just bash about a green chilli in the cocktail shaker before making my usual marg recipe (I’ve been enjoying using Grand Marnier rather than Cointreau recently) and serve on the rocks with a slice of green chilli for garnish.
Chip n dip
Sometimes, it’s best not to overthink things. If you’ve got people coming round for tacos, all they’re going to want to nibble on while you make them is a bag of tortilla chips (I recently tried these blue ones and they were the bomb) with guacamole, salsa and soured cream. The salsa can be as simple as cherry toms whizzed in a food processor with a chilli, some garlic, red onion, coriander and lime juice, and the guac can literally just be mashed avo with lime and salt.
A hack that actually works
I’m not normally one to jump on the bandwagon of a social media trend, but after seeing the so-called “crispy fish skin hack” online (and getting confirmation from a trained chef that it works) I gave it a go. My verdict? It’s game-changing when your non-stick pans have seen better days. I used it to give some salmon an extra crispy finish and served it with lemon herb mayo and new potatoes and raw peas from my dad’s allotment.
A simple spaghetti
No week’s cooking is complete without a bowl of pasta. The in-vogue shape in my household at the moment is spaghetti, and the sauce of the moment is thinly sliced yellow courgette (also allotment bounty), garlic, parsley and parmesan.
A contender for meal of the year
I’ve had Shankey’s on my to-go list for the best part of a year, and I’d completely forgotten about it until I was three pints deep last Friday. Alongside two friends I was lucky to grab a walk-in table and order the feast that might just be the best dinner I’ve had in London this year. The concept of the Hackney restaurant is “Indian food & Irish booze in an old bookies,” and the vibes are immaculate. We started with Galway oysters with a magic concoction of crispy and spicy things (remember, three pints and a glass of Chin Chin deep here) and a sorcerous cauliflower cheese paratha. Spinach-y lentils and tangy potatoes with a coconutty monkfish main were all heavenly. If you’ve got room, finish things off with a gulab jamun and leave happy.