Back when I got meal subscription boxes, one of our favorites became the Grilling Cheese meal. Yes, Grilling Cheese, called Haloumi (pronounced “HALLOOMEE”). Not “grill” as in BBQ, but “grill” as in stovetop, in a frying pan. Greek and Middle Eastern restaurants serve Haloumi as an appetizer. It’s salty, melty, hot cheese: delicious! Anyway, I found Haloumi at Wegmans ($9.99 in the refrigerated cheese section, not at the cheese counter itself). I now top whatever I have from The Misfits Market Box with the cheese, and dinner is served!
Brief recipe: sauté whatever you have from your Misfits Market Box and top with the grilled cheese. I cut the little block into 8 slices: 4 for me, 4 for my husband. When everything else is just about ready, I put the slices in a hot pan on the stove, and fry them. They release some liquid at first, but that will cook off and they will brown nicely. I flip them one time, once they are brown on one side. Total cheese cooking time: about 5 minutes. I serve them on top of potatoes and veggies. Judging from his excitement when he sees the cheese, I think this is my husband’s favorite meatless meal.
An extra tip for the fancy-minded: take some of your veggies—the celery, greens, and/or sugar snap peas are best—and sauté them in a separate pan in a little bit of Spicy Sesame Oil. This extra step will add some serious heat and another layer of flavor to your dish.
Longer recipe:
-choose potatoes or sweet potatoes. Use whatever is already cooked to speed up this process. Sauté them in olive oil or butter until crispy. You could also choose pasta instead.
-in a separate pan, cook your veggies. Many combos will work, but you are looking for a variety of textures and colors. Here are a few:
-onions, carrots, yellow peppers, broccoli, snowpeas
-cauliflower, red peppers, sugar snap peas (optional: mushrooms)
-celery, bok choy, zucchini, beet greens (caution: will turn pink!!)
You want to time your cooking so that all your veggies are warm and cooked at the same time. This is one of the advantages of cooking lots of The Misfits Market Box ahead of time. For instance, if your cauliflower is already oven-roasted, you can have that cauliflower, red pepper, sugar snap pea combo ready in minutes.
When your potatoes and veggies are hot, grill your cheese. While your cheese is grilling, plate your food: potatoes, veggies, then cheese. Enjoy!!