This recipe is a culinary flashback to our summer holiday, a dish we enjoyed in New York having missed the chance to sample the real thing it in its native Canada (probably sacrilege, I realise). Anyhow, an interesting combination that I would probably have never put together. Chips, Cheese and Gravy. Sadly not vegan I'm afraid, a fairly straightforward recipe that uses pretty much the same gravy recipe from the Christmas Nut Roast. (it should also be noted that I have replaced the traditional cheese curds with Halloumi Cheese)
Ingredients -
175g Halloumi, cut into small cubes
5 Medium potatoes, chopped into chips (roughly 1.5cm thickness)
200g closed cup mushrooms, cut into quarters
Oil, for frying
Salt and Pepper to taste
For the Gravy -
Oil, for frying
2x Small Onions, roughly chopped
2x Garlic Cloves, roughly chopped
1x heaped tbsp plain flour
1x tsp Marmite (or similar yeast extract)
450ml Veg Stock
1x tsp Dark Soy Sauce
1x tsp (Vegan) Worcestershire Sauce
Salt and Pepper to taste
Method - To begin, prepare the potatoes and bring a large pan of lightly salted water to the boil. Add in the potatoes and parboil for around 5 minutes. Whilst cooking, preheat the oven to 180°c. When parboiled, drain the potatoes, place onto a baking tray, drizzle with a little oil and season with rock salt before placing them into the preheated oven. Depending on the thickness of the chips, cooking time will vary. If you are producing similarly sized chips, I would recommend a cooking time of roughly 40-50 minutes, turning the chips occasionally in order to ensure a good, evenly browned chip.
Whilst the chips are cooking you can prepare the mushrooms by cutting into quarters, placing in a small frying pan and adding a little oil and cracked black pepper. Also, prepare the Halloumi cheese by cutting into small cubes and placing into a foiled grill pan. Both the mushrooms and Halloumi will not need to be cooked until the chips are nearly completed. So now you can get on with the preparation of the gravy.
There's no need to finely chop anything for this recipe as you can blend the final mixture for a rich, creamy gravy.
Roughly chop the onions and garlic and fry in a little oil at a medium heat for around 5 minutes until they begin to soften, now gradually sprinkle over the plain flour allowing the onions to brown (you may need to add a little extra oil here if the mixture becomes too dry and begins to burn). It is important to make sure you keep stirring this mixture as the flour can make the onions become very sticky and in turn they will stick to the base of the pan if left for too long.
Now reduce to a low heat and add in the veg stock, Marmite, soy, worcestershire sauce and allow to simmer gently for 10 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. At this point the gravy can be turned to a very low heat to keep it warm until everything else is cooked.
Next, cook the Halloumi under a high grill heat for around ten minutes, turning regularly in order to cook thoroughly until browned (see above picture). Whilst the Halloumi cooks under the grill, cook the mushrooms in a frying pan over a medium to high heat until cooked.
The gravy can always be thinned down with water and seasoned to taste with salt and pepper after completion if you feel that the final outcome is too thick. The gravy can also be refrigerated for a day few days and reheated in a pan or the microwave.
O Canada.
JAB
