
Greek-style halloumi skewers
:
4
Course
:
Dinner
Cooking Time
:
5 mins
Prep Time
:
5 mins
Ingredients
450g halloumi
1 jar or pack of marinated Mediterranean vegetables (aubergine, peppers, artichoke, courgette)
3tbs olive oil
Handful fresh flat parsley, chopped
Sea salt and black pepper
200g Greek yoghurt
4 flatbreads
Preheat a barbecue to a high heat. Cut the halloumi cheese into large, even cube shapes and add to a large mixing bowl.
Cut the marinated vegetables into bite-size pieces, roughly the same size as the halloumi, and add to the bowl along with some olive oil, black pepper and chopped parsley and mix to evenly combine.
Place the halloumi and veg on to metal skewers, alternating between halloumi pieces and vegetables.
Place the skewers on to a barbecue on a high heat and cook for one to two minutes before rotating the skewers 90 degrees and cooking for another one to two minutes. Continue until the four sides of the halloumi blocks are nicely charred and soft, then remove from the barbecue and place on a serving platter. The flatbreads can be warmed briefly on the barbecue.
Garnish the skewers with some more chopped parsley and serve with some seasoned Greek yoghurt and the warmed flatbreads.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Irish Times
8 hours ago
- Irish Times
Potato and cabbage rosti with poached eggs
Serves : 2 Course : Brunch Cooking Time : 20 mins Prep Time : 20 mins Ingredients 2 large floury potatoes, such as Rooster, peeled 1 tbsp plain flour 1 egg yolk 3 tbsp sauerkraut, with excess liquid squeezed Vegetable oil, for frying 4 fresh, medium-sized eggs 2 tbsp mayonnaise Tabasco sauce sea salt Preheat the oven to 200°C. Lay the potatoes on a tea towel or cloth on the work surface. Using a box grater, grate the potatoes on to the towel. Wrap the potatoes and squeeze out any excess liquid before placing in a bowl. Add the sauerkraut, flour, egg yolk and salt to the bowl and mix it all together so it begins to stick. Heat a non-stick pan and add a little oil. Roughly shape the rostis into flat circles about 2.5cm thick using your hands, then add them to the pan. Cook over a medium heat for 3 minutes on each side until they are golden brown and soft throughout. If they are still raw inside, you can pop them in the hot oven for 5 minutes to cook through. To poach the eggs, place a large heavy based saucepan on the heat filled with water, bring it to the boil and season with salt. Gently stir the water with a spoon before dropping the eggs in, reduce the heat and cook for three minutes until soft poached. Place the rostis on the plates, add a dollop of mayonnaise, followed by the poached eggs. Season with salt, a few drops of Tabasco and serve.


Irish Times
8 hours ago
- Irish Times
The Work We Need by Hilary Cottam: An ambitious call to rethink work
The Work we Need Author : Hilary Cottam ISBN-13 : 9780349017471 Publisher : Virago Guideline Price : £22 Social entrepreneur and big thinker Hilary Cottam follows Radical Help, her acclaimed 2018 manual demonstrating how the welfare state should be redesigned for the 21st century, with this equally ambitious call to reconsider how we think about work in our fast-transforming world. Cottam has a background in economics and history, as well as public policy. However, she has also been named UK designer of the year for her innovative approach to finding new solutions to social and economic problems, one that has involved stepping back from top-down thinking and engaging in a process of collective reimagining instead. For this book, she employed the pilgrimage as research method, spending five years travelling across Britain and the United States, where she met working people of all ages and walks of life, and asked them one fundamental question: how could we redesign our working lives? Over three-hour small group sessions that Cottam calls imaginings, participants were presented with paper, pens and a pack of visual prompts. What emerged were a series of common dreams, a set of six foundational principles deemed fundamental to the construction of a good working life in this century. READ MORE Cottam summarises these principles as: basics, meaning, time, care, play and place. In the book, each is examined in depth, with an emphasis on the tangible ways they can be turned into a shared reality. For example, how would work change if every employer imagined every employee is also a carer, needing to balance their caring responsibilities alongside their time in the workplace? Or if we once again attuned the rhythm of our working lives to pre-industrial, deeply-coded patterns that would allow us to alternate between intense activity and important periods of idleness and reflection? It is as much Cottam's understanding of history as her anthropological work that lends this book its optimistic tone. The paid weekend, she reminds us, is a relatively recent invention, as are laws regulating working hours and ages. 'Each of these things,' writes Cottam, 'seemed, up to the moment that victory was secured, almost impossible to imagine'.


Irish Times
a day ago
- Irish Times
Fire up your barbecue to Michelin standards with these expert tips
Last November, the Michelin guide announced the awarding of Michelin stars to four Texas barbecue restaurants, the first time that any style of regional American barbecue received the recognition. With barbecue often perceived as a casual food, this was a big step for all involved. In contrast to other regional styles such as Carolina and Tennessee which focus on pork, Texas barbecue is mainly about beef. Cooking approaches range from a six- to eight-hour 'quick cook' all the way to a 24-hour 'low and slow' cook. Many restaurants are casual in nature, with customers queuing to order at the counter, often ordering meat by the pound, before sitting down to eat in or take away. The good news for Irish-based barbecue lovers is that chefs from two of the recently starred restaurants – John Bates of InterStellar BBQ and Ali Clem of La Barbecue, both in Austin – are due to appear in person at next month's Big Grill Festival in Herbert Park, Dublin. In advance, they have some Michelin-starred barbecue tips to share. READ MORE At John Bates's InterStellar BBQ in Austin, the core philosophy is sauce-free barbecue excellence built on traditional Texas principles. His goal is to cook proteins so decadent, juicy, moist and tender that sauce becomes optional, although InterStellar does have carefully designed sauces and sides too. 'Every menu component receives intentional development, from sauces, pickles to our sides. They are all treated with equal importance to the meats. On our trays, every item is placed deliberately, and recipe-tested for optimum quality,' Bates says. His menu of dishes such as prime beef short rib with chimichurri, tipsy turkey brined in beer and dry-rub pork ribs, along with lamb tacos, poblano creamed corn and smoked scallop potatoes certainly seems to back up what he's saying. As well as ingredients, wood selection and fire management play a huge part in the end result. 'We use post oak as it's the most abundant local hardwood and brings that authentic regional flavour – you could even call it terroir,' he says. 'Pecan is also acceptable. Cooking Texas barbecue requires building up loads of fire management expertise.' Bates describes the award of Michelin stars as 'a breakthrough for Texas barbecue culture' and says the news was unexpected and, for some, not completely welcome. 'It came as a complete surprise to us as Michelin wasn't previously present in Texas. We're seeing a whole new customer demographic who were previously unfamiliar with barbecue culture and ordering customs. On the other hand, there's been a mixed reception from the traditional Texas barbecue community, some of whom are suspicious of Michelin's involvement.' For Bates, who has more than 30 years' experience in the food industry and formally trained as a chef before working in fine dining and farm-to-fork restaurants, the star validates the full-package approach he and his team take. 'We welcome our guests with genuine hospitality, treating them as friends and family, rather than a sales opportunity. We have a relentless commitment to quality and consistency, and strive to expand the flavour profile of our menu, all the while maintaining traditional Texas barbecue tenets. Most importantly, I want to focus on building a sustainable culture resistant to poor employment practices and employee mistreatment.' Having grown up in a financially modest environment, Bates relishes the opportunities that barbecue now provides for him. He sees himself as being on a global barbecue cultural exchange, having cooked from Brazil to New Zealand, Italy to Mexico. Next month's visit to Ireland will be a first for him, though, and he's looking forward to bringing InterStellar's peach tea-glazed pork belly to an Irish audience, as well as learning more about Irish food producers and restaurants. Like Bates, chef Ali Clem sees her visit to Ireland as an opportunity for cultural exchange and to continue to build her flavour knowledge. In the past, she has been strategic in her choice of festivals as she likes to work in controlled environments to maintain her quality standards. Ali Clem of La Barbecue in Austin, Texas She also greeted the star award with enormous surprise. 'I'm in continued shock and still processing the recognition. We've been honoured four times out of four by the Texas Monthly Top 50, which remains the paramount reference guide for local customers, but Michelin brings expanded global visibility for us and for Texas barbecue.' Clem's humble 'I just work here' approach belies the deep knowledge and experience she has built up over 26 years in the hospitality industry. She entered the barbecue world in 2011 through the family connections of her late wife LeAnn Mueller, who hailed from generations of well-known Texas barbecue cooks. Mueller's brother John was her mentor for many years, and she is extremely proud to uphold their traditions through her six-hour brisket cooking technique. When describing La Barbecue, she paints a community that deeply loves barbecue. 'We open from 11am to 6pm, with customers often arriving from 9.30am. What can I say? People in Texas like to eat early.' While waiting for their food, customers will grab a coffee and pastry from a nearby bakery, often playing board games and cards to pass the time. With wait times sometimes reaching up to 2½ hours on Saturdays, dedication is required. Once inside, groups order one a time, with staff showing new customers the meats and explaining portion sizes. 'We want customers to be satisfied, and that can take several minutes per order, which we are happy to do,' says Clem. [ Simple, cost effective barbecue recipes that are perfect for a crowd Opens in new window ] The restaurant employs a small-batch ethos which involves cooking just 56 briskets a day, as well as preparing all sides, pickles and slaws one tub at a time. 'We have a controlled production that is considered small compared to other Austin establishments who can cook more than twice our volume,' she says. By spacing out the briskets over two smokers, Clem allows for proper heat and smoke distribution, an approach she attributes to her mathematical and scientific background. But intuition and experience also play a big part. 'I've cooked thousands of briskets over the years and I instinctively know to how to correct when a cook is stalled. I'm currently training a new 19-year-old cook and I love the questions that he and other barbecue enthusiasts ask. I really enjoy the mentorship aspect of my job.' Michelin-starred tips for home barbecuers John Bates Season your meats in advance, ideally a day, as this will give the salt time to draw the spices into the meat for deeper flavour penetration. Give time for full ignition of your coals or charcoal, so that you are at the optimal heat for cooking. The same principle applies to gas barbecuing, which also benefits from a proper warm-up. Where possible, cook with hardwood lump charcoal for superior flavour development and try to avoid chemical fire starters or pre-treated coals as they can leave an unpleasant flavour residue. Ali Clems Start with your favourite meats or proteins and the types of seasonings that you personally like. It will help you build up skills before advancing to more complex techniques. Season your meats well; it's a fundamental success factor. Build your own seasoning blends for your own unique barbecue style, rather than buying premade blends. The Big Grill Festival will be held in Herbert Park from August 14th-17th