Halloumi Cheese

Jun 25 2014

Quick Halloumi and Avocado Salad and the giveaway results

This “quick halloumi and avocado salad” is the result of some creative thinking, and while I originally had no intention of posting it, it looked just so darn nice on the plate (and tasted amazing) that I decided to grab a few quick snaps and write it up.

I was in town and lost track of time somewhat. My wife was due to work in the afternoon and when I returned from town she was taking a well-deserved nap before leaving. I decided to make her a little something to eat before she went to work but the question was… “what?”.

Having a look through the fridge I found halloumi, avocado, and some fresh spinach and pea shoots (leftover from my fried brie – yes, this dish is indeed from a couple of weeks ago and I’m only getting around to posting it now!). Well, that was about everything I needed. Chuck in a slice of bread and you’ve got something fairly balanced – protein, carbs, fat… you could even add in a soft boiled or poached egg on top, although I didn’t feel like that was necessary. Of course, like I said – this salad was the result of some quick refrigerator-raiding. I wouldn’t substitute the halloumi (because oh my God I love halloumi) or the avocado, or the bread really, but the salad composition itself… you can totally wing it.

In other news, my vegetables are coming along fairly well. Pretty much all the peas I planted have come up and are looking healthy. The squash, peppers, chillies and tomatoes in the greenhouse are also looking good. The cucumbers… not so much. I sowed the seeds initially in these little cardboard pots, like egg-boxes. The claim was that when planted directly into the earth, they would break up and “become one with the earth”. “Bulls*#&”, is all I have to say. My cucumbers started yellowing and looking decidedly unhealthy. My only thought was that those stupid little pots had indeed not broken up and were basically stunting the growth, since the roots could not grow out, and the seedling must have by now used up what tiny amount of nutrients was in the soil in the small pot. I carefully dug up on of the seedlings (which incidentally hadn’t really grown a great deal, despite being out there for around two weeks already) and noticed that the cardboard pot was in “great” shape, and fully intact.

I carefully removed the pots from all seedlings and replanted them – a couple of them are looking healthier already, although I think it’s too late for three of them now. Well, I’ll know for next time, that’s for sure!

Anyway, before I move on to the recipe, here’s something I guess a lot of you have been waiting for! The results of my previous giveaway, kindly sponsored by TeaVivre.

Here we go, thanks to random.org:

That means the winners are:

Please get in touch with me here (or by email if you have that) and we’ll sort out the details for the delivery.

Serves 2

Quick Halloumi and Avocado Salad

A simple but fresh, satisfying salad featuring halloumi cheese and avocado

5Prep Time

10Cook Time

15Total Time

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Ingredients

200g Halloumi cheese
2 slices Wholegrain Bread
1 Avocado
1 large handful of fresh Spinach
1 small handful of Pea Sprouts
2tbsps Olive Oil
1tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
2 Lemon Wedges
Salt and pepper

Instructions

Cut the halloumi into two large thin blocks and grill the halloumi on a hot grill or grill pan for a few minutes on each side until slightly charred.
Remove from the pan and rub 1tbsp of the Olive Oil into the bread on both sides. Grill the bread as well to achieve a similar result as for the halloumi.
Arrange the spinach over two plates before placing the grilled bread and halloumi on top.
Half the avocado and remove the seed and skin from each half. Slice and place next to the halloumi before garnishing with pea shoots and the lemon wedge.
Mix together the remaining olive oil with the balsamic vinegar and drizzle over and sprinkle on a little salt and pepper to taste.

https://homesweetsweden.com/quick-halloumi-avocado-salad/

Apr 21 2014

Spring Salad with Asparagus, Halloumi, and Homemade Aioli

Spring is here! Nothing can possible spoil my mood, especially not now that spring salads are on the menu. The air is warmer, the birds are singing, the buds are blooming. It’s a whole changing landscape and it’s beautiful. The snow is gradually melting away, with now only the very shady, sheltered parts of the landscape still showing the marks of winter. The rivers are still frozen on the edges, but they, along with the sea nearby, are now thawing out for the most part. I can go outside to see brilliantly blue skies, much like this.

Fluffy, wispy clouds hang in the air – it’s a good time to be alive.

The stores are getting a whole bunch of new things. For the things they already had, the prices are tumbling. I saw strawberries the other day for about 7 SEK a pack. That’s about $1. That’s not what I’m interested in though. What I’m after is the veg. Fresh, green asparagus, huge bags of rosy red radishes, new potatoes, plump red bell peppers, green beans, lettuces and other salad leaves, like baby red swiss chard… all going for great prices. No, it’s not locally produced, but that would be pretty hard up here, since you still can’t really grow anything at this time of year. And so my produce probably comes from about four different countries and is about as far from environmentally-friendly as you can get, but allow me this small pleasure after this winter!

I saw all these beautiful things and I knew what I wanted to make. What else, but a spring salad? I really wanted everything to shine, and I didn’t want to go nuts with a dressing either. I wanted the gorgeous colours and individual flavours to smack you on the tongue when you eat it, so I opted for a very simple drizzle of oil and a generous squeeze of lemon juice to tie it all together.

I do love my sauces though, and after going out for a pizza with my wife the other day which had seafood and smoked aioli on top (seriously… it was very good!) I’ve been hankering after some more aioli ever since, so I figured I’d serve some up with this. It was so good – as someone who’s really obsessed with halloumi cheese as well, that was just the proverbial icing on the cake.

One fantastic meal – and vegetarian to boot!

Spring Salad

Enjoy everyone! I’ll be back soon.

Serves 5

Spring Salad with Asparagus, Halloumi, and Homemade Aioli

A crisp, fresh, vibrant salad, packed with all the amazing things that make life wonderful.

20Prep Time

20Cook Time

40Total Time

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Ingredients

For the salad2 Red Peppers

600g New Potatoes
300g Halloumi
250g Asparagus
200g fresh Green Beans
200g Radishes
100g Baby Chard
1 Red Onion
4tsps Sunflower / Canola Oil
1tsp Flaked / Kosher salt

For the salad dressingJuice from one Lemon

3tbsps Olive Oil
2tsps freshly ground Black Pepper

For the Aioli1 Egg Yolk

2 cloves of Garlic, minced
Juice from half a Lemon
1tsp Salt
~200ml Sunflower or Canola oil

Instructions

Start off by making the aioli - Add the minced garlic, lemon juice and salt into a large bowl with the egg yolk and whisk together well. Drizzle in the oil very slowly, whisking vigorously all the time until the aioli reaches a good thick consistency. You may need to add a bit more, or less oil.
Next, place the red peppers under a hot grill or broiler for about 10 minutes, turning regularly until the skin is blackened and charred. Remove from the grill and set aside to allow to cool.
Place the potatoes on to boil in a large, covered pot of water. While they're boiling, heat 2 of the 4 teaspoons of oil in a large frying pan on the stove. Cut the halloumi into good chunks and then fry them in the hot oil on both sides until golden brown.
Set the cooked potatoes and halloumi aside and then heat the remaining 2tsps of oil in the frying pan. Cut off the woody parts from the asparagus stalks, and slice the spears at an angle. Trim the ends from the green beans and then fry them for a couple of minutes. Add in a drizzle of the lemon juice for the salad dressing and continue frying for another 30 seconds or so before removing. Place the asparagus and green beans into a large salad serving bowl.
Quarter the potatoes and add into the salad bowl along with the halloumi. Wash the chard and radishes. Chop the radishes into quarters and add into the salad bowl as well, before peeling the red onion, slicing finely and adding to the salad bowl.
Peel away the skin from the red peppers and remove the seeds and stalk. Slice the flesh into long strips and add into the salad bowl.
Drizzle over the olive oil for the dressing and add the lemon juice. Finally, sprinkle over the black pepper and salt for the salad. Mix everything together well with your hands, massaging the oil and lemon juice into the salad ingredients.
Serve immediately along with the aioli, and preferably a nice piece of fresh bread.

Notes

You don't need to discard quite as much from the asparagus spear as if you were boiling or steaming it. Since it will be fried, you can be a lot more economical with the stalks!

https://homesweetsweden.com/spring-salad/

Jun 03 2012

Papaya, Chickpea and Feta Salad

Serves: 4
Cost: ~€4.30
Preparation time: ~25 minutes
Calories: ~550 per serving

Greetings folks – it’s Sunday, and while for many of us that does mean it’s just one day of blissful weekend left before returning to work on Monday, I’m not going to think about that right now. Oh no, for it’s a brand new day – time to sit on the balcony and stuff yourself with pancakes topped with a big blob of butter and… is that raspberry jam? Oops, seems that someone forgot to buy the maple syrup – well, never mind – a wonderful pot of coffee and a stack of pancakes and a day of nothingness ahead of me – what could be better?

The weather seems to have taken a turn for the HOT and all urges of turning on the oven or stove have fled from my mind. A colleague of mine very kindly brought me some halloumi in the week – it’s not the easiest thing to find in France. You often have to seek out overpriced Lebanese specialty stores (don’t ask me why, considering it’s a Cypriot cheese), but anyway – his parents were visiting him from Cyprus and brought over some halloumi for him and he very kindly brought me some of his stash! One of my favourite ways of eating it is just simply frying it and eating it atop a lovely couscous salad, loaded with fresh parsley, the lovely zing of lemon juice permeating throughout – It’s cool, quick and easy to make – perfect for hot weather. I had all the ingredients I needed, so I set to work.

I didn’t get very far.

I pulled out the box of couscous from the cupboard to reveal literally a small handful of of the stuff. I know it swells in water but expecting that to swell to a sufficient quantity to feed us both for dinner and lunch the next day would be pushing it a bit alas. I pondered what I could do instead for a bit and decided to chuck a few things together, including a papaya that I’d bought a couple of days previously. I was enormously satisfied with the results – packed with flavour and a real bit of zing in each bite, with just a hint of fresh, cold sweetness from the papaya. If you can get halloumi then I recommend this, but if not then feta works equally well! The tiny bit of couscous provides a perfect bit of “glue” which binds together with the rest of the ingredients to bulk it out nicely.

Let me ask you something though – What’s the deal with papayas? Am I missing out somewhere? Perhaps I’ve just never had a good one, but to me they just always seem like almost tasteless melons. I think that’s why the flavour works so well in this salad – there’s no sensation of “fruit” coming through to create some funky combination with the cheese and tomato… no, it just sits there in the background, sweetening things up a bit sometimes and giving a bit of body – lovely stuff!

Have a great day everyone – see you back on Wednesday and don’t forget – you still have a week from today to enter my giveaway if you didn’t already! 🙂

Papaya, Chickpea and Feta Salad

[learn_more caption=”Video Recipe”]

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Ingredients

1 Papaya
500g prepared Chickpeas
80g of couscous (dry weight)
A large handful of Cherry Tomatoes
A 10cm length of Cucumber
1 Red Pepper
1 Onion
~150g Feta Cheese or Halloumi
A good handful of fresh Parsley
A small handful of fresh Mint
Juice of 1 Lime
Juice of 1 Lemon
~5 tbsps Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper

Instructions

Start off by chopping the feta or halloumi cheese into small chunks. Place into a bowl and then finely chop the mint. Add this in and pour in a couple of tablespoons of the Olive Oil. Mix well and set aside to allow the flavours to infuse for a few moments while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
Bring about 100ml of water to the boil in a pan and when boiling, remove from the heat and add the couscous into the bottom. Stir well and set aside. Meanwhile, peel the onion and finely chop along with the cucumber and the parsley. Cut the tomatoes and red pepper into bite-size pieces, and then cut the papaya in half. Remove the seeds and then peel the two halves before chopping into small chunks.
Place the papaya into a large bowl with the chickpeas, the cucumber, tomatoes, red pepper, parsley, onion, feta cheese, lemon and lime juice and the rest of the olive oil. Drain off any excess water from the couscous, if needed, and add to the bowl with a few good twists of salt and pepper before mixing well to combine all ingredients. Serve immediately and enjoy!

Nov 26 2010

Green Tabbouleh with Fried Halloumi

Approx cost: €5.00
Approx calories (per portion): ~475
Approx preparation time: 35 minutes

I love cooking with couscous because it’s one of those things which is always interesting because it’s pretty much cooked about 20 seconds after adding into hot water. The lemon and lime juice and the parsley really give it a fresh taste which mix perfectly with the slightly fatty, salty flavour of the cheese.

Ingredients

– 150g Couscous (1 cup)
– 1 Packet Halloumi
– Half a cucumber
– Half a green pepper
– 3 tomatoes
– Half a lemon
– Half a lime
– 1 onion
– 2 cloves of garlic
– 1 bunch of parsley
– Salt
– Pepper
– Olive oil

Instructions

Start by cutting a couple of slices of halloumi per person. Lay the slices out on a plate and grind some pepper over the top. Drizzle a little olive oil over the top and turn a few times and then set aside.
Boil about 4 decilitres (2 cups)of water in a pan. When boiling, remove the pan from the heat and pour in the couscous and a dash of olive oil. Stir well and set aside for a few minutes to cook. Meanwhile chop the pepper , the cucumber, and the onion finely, mince the garlic and chop the tomato into rough chunks. Pour into the couscous and mix well. Add some salt and pepper to taste and about 4-5 tbsps olive oil.
Wash the whole bunch of parsley and cut away the stalks. Chop the whole bunch very finely and add to the tabbouleh and stir. Set aside while you prepare the halloumi.
Set a skillet (ridged if possible) onto a hot stove and heat up for a minute or so. Lay the halloumi into the pan and fry for about 30 seconds and then turn. Cook for the same time again and then remove the heat. Serve the tabbouleh into a bowl and lay the halloumi on top and serve.