What You'll Need
- A half doz. Cherry Tomatoes
- Handful of Red Grapes
- 3 slices Halloumi Cheese
- About a cup of Iceburg Lettuce
- Balsamic Vinegar
- Pickled Red Cabbage
- Salt
- Olive Oil
- Frying Pan / Spatula
- Bowl (to serve)
The How to Step-by-step
- Halve the grapes, throw them into the bowl.
- Shred the lettuce, throw it into the bowl.
- Add 2 tablespoons of the red cabbage with a little of the pickle vinegar.
- Half the cherry tomatoes & fry until very slightly charred in a little olive oil. Into the bowl they go...
- Fry the Halloumi until golden/browned (after the tomatoes, in whatever oil remains. Only top-up is absolutely needed, better to 'dry fry' this)
- Cube or dice or more finely slice the halloumi (bite-sized bits) and into the bowl lobbeth it.
- A light dash of salt to season.
- A generous sprinkling of good quality balsamic vinegar.
- Toss the content to mix well and get that vinegar over the stuff.
- Garnish with croutons if you want?
- Consume
Story Time
A lot of recipes begin with an elaborate story about the food or why it's awesome, but I'm not a chef or a professional food blogger, the 'read-time on page' is not something I care about. Make food eat it.
Why does this recipe exist? I made a salad, it tasted fucking awesome, I wanted to share. A pretty short story. Let me elaborate on all of the above. I'm on a bit of a health thing at the moment, and so I'm looking to put things in my body that won't kill me, or try to.
I love Halloumi, it's a cheese that you can treat like bacon, fuck me that's a good enough reason right there! I guess if you hate your arteries you could substitute bacon into this instead of the Halloumi, or just add it in as well?
I'll be honest, the trick here isn't that I found a secret salad combo... The balsamic vinegar does a LOT of heavy lifting in this.
What to expect from this food thing
It's crunchy, sweet with pops of umami. Well-fried halloumi brings a chewy yet crispy mouth-feel the 'dressing' aka the vinegar & pickles add a sharp tang to everything all wrapped in the freshness and light bitterness of the lettuce.
I bloody love this, and it's kind of healthy, so. there ya go.
Frying Halloumi
So, it occurs to me, not everyone may be comfortable with this concept, or even really know-how, so let me blather here about how I do it, and hopefully, it may help those aspiring chef-du-partie out there.
I slice some halloumi about a quarter-inch thick, about the width of a knife's handle I guess? a little thicker or thinner won't matter. I warm a pan with a scant amount of olive oil, and I really mean like it's nearly dry, too much oil can spoil the cook here but you need some to help the cheese along its journey.
In this recipe, I've cooked my Halloumi in fingers by halving the slices into finger-width slivers, but it can just be cooked as it is sliced. With the pan at a good medium-hot temp, the little oil you have in there should easily sloop about when the pan is jiggled or tipped, the cheese goes in. It may spit a little so be prepared for your fingers getting a little oil spittle!
Wait about a minute, you should see the cheese beginning to seize a little as its underside takes the heat. Use some tongues to very gently flip the slices, be careful you can tear it at this point!
Again, wait about a minute and you'll see the cheese visibly pulling into itself - It is VERY nearly ready, at this point there should be little to no colouring on the cheese, but you need to pay attention now.
Flip the cheese again, and you'll now start to smell the cook, it takes only a few seconds now over constant heat to get the cheese to begin to colour, check intermittently by just holding up an edge to look under a piece to see what it's doing.
You're looking for a brownish golden colour, a little black charring is okay, but if this happens too quickly you're at risk of burning it. When you see that golden-brown flip the slices and do the same for the other side.
You can now flip and re-flip the cheese it should have stiffened up a little and be easier to work you don't want too much fresh white or light yellow, you're looking to get most of its surface well browned.
When you are happy the cheese is browned, even if the edges are perhaps just a little charred it's ready!
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| Halloumi sald picture |
