Recipe #37- Grilled halloumi and tabbouleh salad
Ah, tabbouleh, my old friend. Every year my extended family get together to see in the New Year with a festive lunch and this old gem pops up, usually courtesy of my wife’s aunt, and every year it goes down a treat, along with my mother in laws olive tart (Hmm… how long till 2011?)
Much to my delight I stumbled across this recipe, which was a perfect choice for Meat – Free Day.
Halloumi on the other hand has not been a ‘go to’ on my culinary wish list, partly because my experience with it have been a mix bag, I guess in part due to where I’ve chosen to enjoy, or rather, not enjoy, this particular Cypriot cheese.
The meal was certainly 20 minute worthy and the tabbouleh surprisingly simple to make, the hardest part was trying to get the nifty little grill lines to STAY on the halloumi, every time I got a great grill line, it came away from the cheese… clearly my grilling techniques have a way to go…
The dish is topped with pine nuts, and to be honest without them I think it might fall a little flat.
More and more I’m learning that the combination of well thought out ingredients really make a good dish a great one.
I enjoyed it immensely and it was buy far the best halloumi I’ve had to date.
I just forwarded this on to a friend, she loves halloumi – I personally try to stay away from it!
Hey Marvin,
Yeah, it is great, in moderation, it is incredibly salty, and for a ‘blanc’ cheese, pretty rich. I love the texture and taste, but next time I’ll ease up on the halloumi and make a little more tabbouleh.
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by FoodBlog Cape Town, Matt Allison. Matt Allison said: Recipe #37- Grilled halloumi and tabbouleh salad: http://ow.ly/2XZjc […]
Hi Matt,
I’ve been around the kitchen for more years than I care to discuss and have never heard of halloumi. Did you buy it fresh in brine, or wrapped in mint leaves? I found this on Wikipedia:
Although it is made worldwide and is of rather disputed origin due to the mixed cultures in the Levant and East Mediterranean, halloumi is currently registered as a protected Cypriot product within the US (since the 1990s) but not the EU. The delay in registering the name halloumi with the EU has been largely due to a conflict between dairy producers and sheep and goat farmers as to whether registered halloumi will contain cow’s milk or not and if so, at what ratios with sheep and goat’s milk.
I’m going to keep an eye out for it. I am a cheese-crazed nut!
Hi Sally,
I bought it in brine, I’ve not seen in mint leaves myself, only in brine. It really is worth a try, you really need to grill it though, as shared I find it quite rich and salty, so all in moderation.
Cheers
Matt
some haloumi comes with mint leaves pressed inside it :)
Your griddle pan needs to be brushed lightly with olive oil and the right temprature to get the gridlines to stay, also you cannot move the cheese to early or too late. I have succeeded once, maybe twice to achieve all the variables correctly to get the gridlines to stay…hehe
Hi Hila,
Thanks for all the advice, as always, a wealth of knowledge! I think I’m still struggling with getting the temp just right with the grill pan in general, though I’m getting better and better, so progress is steady, though slow.
Cheers
Matt