Spaghetti with Halloumi Balls
Tasty breaded halloumi stands in for meatballs in this fun vegetarian dinner! This is the perfect way to add something new and interesting to pasta night.
Ingredients
- 200 g (7 oz) halloumi, chopped into squares, see notes
- 1 large egg
- 400 g (14 oz) spaghetti
- 1 jar tomato based pasta sauce
Bread Coating
- 4 Tbsp breadcrumbs
- 4 Tbsp grated pecorino or parmesan style cheese
- 2 tsp Italian seasoning / Italian mixed herbs
- 1.5 tsp fennel seeds
- ½ tsp smoked paprika
Instructions
- Boil your pasta according to package instructions. Let your sauce simmer at the same time in a separate pan. While the pasta and sauce cook, you can prepare your halloumi balls.400 g spaghetti, 1 jar tomato based pasta sauce
- Prepare the breading mix. Add all of the ingredients to a bowl and mix until well combined.4 Tbsp breadcrumbs, 2 tsp Italian seasoning / Italian mixed herbs, 1.5 tsp fennel seeds, 1/2 tsp smoked paprika, 4 Tbsp grated pecorino or parmesan style cheese
- Whisk the egg in another bowl.1 large egg
- Now it's time to start breading! Line up all of your halloumi squares on a chopping board or a layer of parchment paper. First, dip the halloumi in the egg and then the breadcrumbs, moving the halloumi through the crumbs to make sure that it's completely covered. Set back on the chopping board or parchment paper and repeat until they're all coated.200 g halloumi
- Once the spaghetti is boiled, drain and add back into the pan. Add the sauce. Toss to mix, and then set aside to keep warm while you cook the halloumi.
- Heat a layer of olive oil in a frying pan. You want to cover the bottom of the pan. Heat on a medium heat. It's ready when a breadcrumb sizzles upon contact, so try tossing a crumb if you're not sure.
- Add the halloumi to the pan one by one. You will need to cook them in batches, making sure not to put too many in the pan at once. As you add more, you want to make sure they all sizzle on contact. If they stop sizzling, then the oil is cooling down and you want to stop adding any more until it heats up again.
- Let them cook on each side until brown, working quickly to flip them around as they cook to get them as evenly cooked on each side as possible. It won't be perfect and that is OK.
- Serve! Add spaghetti to a bowl and top with 4-6 halloumi pieces per dish.
Notes
Chopping the halloumi:
Cut the halloumi into 12 sections (3x wide and 4x across). You will be left with 12 quite tall pieces of halloumi, which you want to break into two square pieces. You can chop them, but each piece is likely to have a weak point where it will split into two with a gentle pull, because halloumi has a "seam" where it's been folded over to make the block. The seam may not be straight in the middle of the pieces, so some will be different sizes, which is fine.
Calories: 623kcal, Carbohydrates: 90g, Protein: 29g, Fat: 17g, Saturated Fat: 10g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 4g, Cholesterol: 7mg, Sodium: 1537mg, Potassium: 765mg, Fiber: 6g, Sugar: 9g, Vitamin A: 886IU, Vitamin C: 12mg, Calcium: 633mg, Iron: 3mg