Sicilian style quinoa and halloumi stew

I'll admit, in the run up to christmas when I expect to be eating and drinking in excess, I am trying to monitor my carb intake. This just means me finding an alternative to the usuals, bread, pasta and potatoes. However today, I had all the ingredients to make a vegetarian version of a Sicilian fish stew, of course, without the fish, but also in my version, I swapped the couscous for quinoa - high in protein. This was also the first opportunity (I don't know why) to use the saffron we bought in Turkey this May.


Gipsy Spread still gets to have some king prawns, but also halloumi. He never likes to miss out on the halloumi.


What you will need
1 onion
2-3 cloves garlic
1/2 tea spoon chilli flakes
125ml white wine
1 tin (400g) chopped tomatoes
1 vegetable stock cube
100g quinoa
200ml water
A pinch of saffron
1 packet halloumi
1/2 lemon zest
Fresh parsly


Start by finely chopping the onion and garlic. Soften these in a little bit of oil for 5-10 minutes. When softened, add the chilli flakes and the glass of wine. Cook for 1-2 minutes until bubbling, then add the chopped tomatoes and water and crumble in the stock cube. Bring to boil then add in the pinch of saffron, and seasoning that is necessary and the quinoa.


Cook the stew ingredients and quinoa on a low-medium heat for 15-20 minutes until the quinoa is cooked.

Whilst the stew is cooking, prepare the lemon zest and parsley. Slice the halloumi and place it on grease proof paper for grilling. Grill the halloumi on a medium heat for 3-5 minutes either side before serving.

When ready to serve,  dish up the hot tomato stew and top with the freshly grilled halloumi, lemon zest and parsley.