Roasted Eggplant and Tomatoes with Halloumi
With roasted eggplant, tomatoes and garlic tossed in an herby lemon tahini sauce, this sheet pan halloumi recipe is an easy vegetarian meal.
Now that we are firmly into September, I am in the final 4 weeks or so of my annual farm share subscription. It’s been a fantastic spring, summer and fall as usual.
Each week my emotions have ranged from excitement to panic when I’m completely overwhelmed with the quantity they pack into a single fruit and veggie box.
There is always a learning curve. I make discoveries and experiment—not everything is a success.
What always works for me is a simple rule: when in doubt, roast.
If I have more than I know what to do with, I dice the veggies, toss them in olive oil, season them with salt and pepper and just roast them in the oven.
This tactic has inspired many sheet pan meals including this roasted eggplant and tomatoes with halloumi.
Three Cheers For Sheet Pan Meals!
Magical things happen when you roast a pan full of veggies, especially when you add an awesome and bakeable cheese like halloumi.
The flavor of this salty cheese from Cyprus goes so well with eggplant and tomatoes. It has a lot of personality!
Also while everything is in the oven roasting, I make grains for a side dish. Couscous, quinoa and barley are typically what I stock in my pantry, so I pick whatever I have on my shelves.
An Easy Lemon Tahini Sauce
I use a food processor to make a sauce that’s a mix of lemon juice, tahini, parsley and roasted garlic.
Besides the tomatoes and eggplant, I sneak a few garlic cloves, with their skins-on, onto the sheet pan. Once they are roasted, I pop them out of their skins to puree with the rest of the ingredients.
You can toss the roasted eggplant, tomatoes and halloumi with the herby sauce right on the sheet pan when it’s out of the oven.
The Ingredients
This is what you need for this eggplant tomato recipe:
- Eggplant: Look for small to medium eggplants with taut and shiny skin. They shouldn’t have any soft spots. There’s no need to salt the eggplant before cooking it.
- Tomatoes: This recipe calls for halved cherry tomatoes because they hold their shape when roasted and mixed with the sauce.
- Halloumi: Because of its high melting point, this semi-hard goat’s/sheep’s milk (or both) cheese, you can bake halloumi on a sheet pan.
- Garlic: Even though the garlic roasts with the eggplant, tomatoes and halloumi, it’s meant for the sauce.
- Lemon tahini sauce: With roasted garlic and parsley, this easy lemon tahini sauce is made in a food processor. Then you can spoon it over the eggplant, tomatoes and halloumi right on the sheet pan after they have finished roasting.
- Grains: Cooked grains like couscous, barley, quinoa or farro are great to serve with the roasted eggplant, tomatoes and halloumi.
How To Make Roasted Eggplant and Tomatoes with Halloumi
- Roast the veggies. Toss the eggplant, tomatoes and garlic with olive oil, salt and pepper. Spread them out on a sheet pan with the tomatoes cut side up. Roast them in the oven until the eggplant starts to brown at the edges and the tomatoes wrinkle.
- Add the halloumi to the sheet pan. Keep roasting, letting the halloumi turn lightly golden.
- Make the sauce. Squeeze the roasted garlic out of its cloves into a food processor. Add the parsley, lemon juice, tahini, salt and pepper. Puree the mixture drizzling in the olive oil with the motor running.
- Spoon the sauce onto the eggplant, tomatoes and halloumi. Gently toss around the veggies and cheese, so everything is coated.
- Serve with cooked grains.
How To Serve This Halloumi Recipe
You can keep things really easy. Just serve the eggplant, tomatoes and halloumi with grains.
Go with whatever you have in your pantry. That can be couscous, barley, quinoa, farro or even basic brown rice. By combining everything with grains, it really turns it into a filling meal.
Try These Other Vegetable Sheet Pan Recipes
Sheet Pan Baked Feta with Vegetables
Roasted Mediterranean Vegetables with Halloumi
Sheet Pan Cherry Tomato Gnocchi
Roasted Ratatouille Quinoa
Sesame Tofu Asparagus
Sheet Pan Kung Pao Tofu
Roasted Eggplant and Tomatoes with Halloumi
Ingredients
- For vegetables and halloumi
- 1-1/2 pounds eggplant, diced 1/2-inch
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
- 3 garlic cloves, skin-on
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 pound halloumi cheese, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- For sauce
- 1 cup parsley leaves
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1 tablespoon tahini
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- For serving
- Cooked grains, i.e. barley, quinoa, farro, couscous
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- On a sheet pan, toss the eggplant, tomatoes and garlic with 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 teaspoon kosher salt and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper. Spread into a single layer with the tomatoes cut side up. Roast for 25 minutes until the eggplant is starting to brown at the edges and the tomatoes are wrinkling. Scatter the halloumi on the pan and continue roasting for 10-15 minutes until the cheese is lightly golden. Save the roasted garlic for the sauce.
- For the sauce, squeeze the garlic cloves out of their skins into the bowl of a food processor. Add the parsley, lemon juice, tahini, salt and pepper. With the motor running, drizzle the olive oil through the feeder tube processing until the mixture is fully combined.
- Spoon the sauce onto the eggplant, tomatoes and halloumi on the sheet pan. Gently toss around to coat everything.
- Serve with cooked grains.
Great, easy recipe! Loved the sauce and the steps made sense. Thank you.