food to glow

Cheeky, squeaky baked fries in cheese form. Not an everyday food, but quite a fun and tasty one. Try as an appetizer with the dipping sauce, in a wrap with salad and sprouts, topping a veg-stuffed egg-white omelette, dipped in low-salt ketchup, or plunged into your favourite bean or nut-based dip (we like this one and this one a lot). Because of the high sodium content in halloumi cheese I strongly recommend either buying a no-salt Creole seasoning blend, or making your own. Here is my one in this recipe for Pan-fried Creole Cauliflower Fritters.

Creole Marinara Dip

1 tsp olive oil

1 garlic clove, crushed or minced

1 tsp no-salt Creole seasoning blend (here is my recipe)

1 x 400g (14 oz) carton of whole tomatoes, crushed or chopped

1 tbsp fresh oregano OR 1 tsp dried oregano

Pinch of sugar or drizzle of honey (just for balance)

1 bay leaf

Method for Creole Marinara Sauce: Heat the oil in a medium sauce pan over a low-medium flame. Gently sauté the garlic and the Creole spice blend until the garlic is softened, then add the remaining ingredients. Simmer gently for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until thickened and pulpy. Crush with a potato masher or, removing the bay leaf first, use a hand blender to blend. Taste for seasoning, remembering this is going with something salty so maybe only add pepper or a pinch of sugar. Set aside to cool.

Baked Creole Halloumi Fries

250g (8.8 oz) pack of halloumi cheese (lower fat is fine but the texture is not as pleasing), cut to make 15-16 fingers

75g (2.6 oz) coconut flour or unbleached flour (I use coconut flour – much better than other flour in this case)

1 tsp salt-free Creole seasoning blend (see above for link to my recipe)

Oil spray

Baked Halloumi Fries Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F. Line a baking tray with parchment paper and place in the oven for five minutes.

2. Pour the coconut flour onto a plate and stir in the Creole seasoning. You could also do this in a plastic bag. Press each halloumi slice into the coconut flour, turning to coat well. You shouldn’t need anything to help the flour to adhere, but you could spray each slice lightly with the oil spray before dredging and pressing into the flour.

3. Remove the tray from the oven and spray with oil spray.

I experimented with these on an oiled tray and on the oil sprayed baking paper and the baking paper won!

4. Quickly, so the heat doesn’t dissipate too much, place the halloumi slices onto the lined baking tray, spray the slices with oil spray (lightly) and slide the tray into the preheated oven. Bake for 10 minutes, then flip with a thin spatula and bake for another eight minutes, or until golden and slightly crisped at the edges. Serve with the warm Creole marinara sauce, or as described in the header notes.

Note: Leftovers (ha ha) can be reheated for five minutes but won’t quite crisp up again.