Chorizo, Halloumi and Chickpea Bake: £1 per serve

Alight dudebros,

This one’s an absolute winner: I made it before getting completely w i l d on my Birthday and everyone really liked it and I think it’s the only bit of the night I actually remember. It’s packed full of flavour and keeps you full too. It’s mildly more spenny than other lentil type dishes but in the grand scheme of things it’s still pretty dang cheap. This served about 8 of us comfortably but if you’re making it for just you, I’d recommend only doing 2-3 portions as I imagine the halloumi doesn’t reheat so well, but I haven’t tried it so let me know.

To serve 7-8, you’ll need:

• 2 blocks of Halloumi – £2.98
• One chorizo sausage – £1.49
• 3 small red onions – £0.40
• a punnet of cherry tomatoes – £0.69
• a red pepper – £0.33
• smoked paprika £0.05
• 2 tins of chickpeas £0.66
• pepper, oregano, olive oil £0.10

Half, then quarter thine red onions and scatter them in a big fuck-off baking dish along with the chickpeas, cherry tomatoes and roughly chopped red pepper. Slice the chorizo into discs a bit thicker than the thickness of a pound coin and throw that in too. Sprinkle liberally with smoked paprika (normal will do also) and grind in a lot of black pepper, and, if you’re feeling spicy, some chilli flakes and a touch of oregano. Drizzle the lot with Olive oil and pop it in the oven at 150 degrees while you start frying off your halloumi:

Chop the halloumi into thick slices and fry in hot oil (fried cheese, I know, I know, thank you, science) until golden and crispy on the outside. I had to do mine in a few batches but this won’t be an issue if you’re making less. When the it’s done, get the tray out of the oven and toss the halloumi with the rest of the heavenly ensemble of deliciousness and put back in the oven for a further 10 minutes at about 200, just to properly brown-off the chorizo and make the tomatoes all lush and rich.

I served this with basmati rice but I imagine that couscous would be equally delicious  – you could go healthy and do steamed green veg with it too.

It’s well lush and I think you should deffo give it a try.