Halloumi Tray Bake with Pesto Rice & Roasted Vegetables
A delicious and hearty vegetarian sheetpan / tray bake dinner! Caramelized roasted sweet potato, mushrooms and peppers with pesto rice, topped with grilled halloumi. Everything comes together easily in one big roasting dish for a simple dinner.
2medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into rounds 1-1.5 inches thick
1red pepper, sliced
150g(5oz)mushrooms, sliced*
1red onion, cut into wedges
2Tbspolive oil
1TbspBalsamic glaze, you can use balsamic vinegar if you don't have any glaze*
150g(5oz)cherry tomatoes
250g(1cups)prepared rice
3Tbsppesto
225g(8oz)halloumi cheese, cut into 6 slices
hummus, for topping
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 200C / 390F.
Lightly oil a roasting dish and place the sweet potato rounds in, brushing oil on top. Place in the oven for 20 minutes.
Remove from the oven and flip over the sweet potato rounds before adding in the other vegetables - mushrooms, onion, peppers and cherry tomatoes. Drizzle oil and balsamic vinegar (or glaze) on top.
Place back in the oven for a further 30 minutes. It's ready when all the vegetables are nicely charred and most of the mushroom and tomato juices have evaporated.
Heat up your rice. If you're using leftover rice, just microwave it for a minute or so. If you're using a packet of easy cook rice or frozen rice, cook it to the package instructions.
Mix the pesto and rice together and scoop into the pan with the vegetables. I like to use the rice to fill any spaces in the pan.
Arrange the halloumi slices on top and brush or spray with olive oil.
Turn the oven's grill (broiler) setting to medium/high and grill for about 5 minutes, until the halloumi is crispy and browned.
Serve immediately with scoops of hummus on top.
Notes
* I use portobellini / cremini mushrooms here and cut them in half. If using portobellos / large flat mushrooms, cut intro strips. If using smaller button mushrooms, leave them whole.** I use a squeeze bottle of balsamic glaze here, but if you don't have any, don't buy it especially. Just use some balsamic vinegar. This won't bring as much flavour, so I'd then suggest you add a little extra pesto to the veg when it's done cooking, before you put the rice in the pan. If you really want to roast that veg in something more resembling a balsamic glaze, you could use the marinade from this recipe.