What does the perfect main course need to offer during the cold season? Quite simply, it must warm you from the inside, be comfort food and provide plenty of vitamins and fibre.
This oven-baked vegetable dish with halloumi ticks all these boxes with ease. A huge helping of fresh winter vegetables, filling and wholesome, with delicious halloumi nestled between the vegetables for that extra flavour kick.
A vegetarian main course that everyone will enjoy
Even meat lovers won't complain about the lack of animal protein in these oven-baked vegetables. With filling vegetables such as pumpkin, sweet potatoes and potatoes, you won't miss anything on your plate.
But I don't know about you: the best thing is simply the halloumi. I loooove halloumi. It doesn't even have to be fried. I always buy more than I need for cooking, because I can't resist having a few bites while I'm preparing it.
When I was working as a diving instructor in Malta, we had a young Englishman named Joe on our team. He trained with us to become a divemaster in exchange for work and was my flatmate. The two of us were halloumi fanatics. It felt like we ate nothing but halloumi that summer. And no matter how often I eat it, I can always have more (and remember Joe 😊).
Don't be afraid of lots of garlic!
If you read about a whole bulb of garlic in the recipe below and almost have a heart attack – don't panic! During the roasting process, the garlic loses its typical pungency and strong smell completely, leaving only wonderfully soft and harmonious oven-roasted garlic.
One bulb is already quite small. I usually have two whole bulbs in my oven-roasted vegetables, because everyone always picks out the garlic cloves first (or second... after the halloumi).
Vampire defence is no longer working, but the dish is therefore perfectly suitable for a date!
What if you just can't do without meat?
No problem! There are two great options:
Either reduce the vegetables by half, add chicken legs (also simply rub with the oil and spice mixture) and then roast the whole thing for 60 minutes instead of just 50.
Or you can use the roasted vegetables as a delicious and filling side dish to accompany pan-fried meat.
Warming oven-baked vegetables with halloumi
Ingredients
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180°C using top and bottom heat.
- Wash the vegetables, peel if necessary, and cut into large pieces (not too small!).Remove the garlic cloves from the bulb and peel them.Slice the halloumi, then cut into pieces.
- Line a baking tray with baking paper. Spread the vegetables and halloumi on top.
- Grate the lemon zest over the vegetables and sprinkle with lemon juice.
- Season the vegetables with salt, sprinkle with the spice mixture and pour the olive oil over them. Mix everything well with your hands. Use more or less olive oil and spice mixture as desired.
- Bake in the oven for approx. 50 minutes.
