5 March 2015

HELLO HALOUMI

As a good cook who makes everything from scratch I am not much of a fan of food that has flavour added. I always think, why did they need to go to all that trouble when I can do that myself? I guess in this crazy world where everyone is time-poor and assembling dinner rather than cooking it has meant clever marketing people dream up easy ways to add flavour to meals so it is ready to go.

However when some packages of Chipotle Haloumi arrived this morning from innovative The Collective I thought to myself this is worth a try. I love their products and there’s always a large pot of their stunning Straight Up yogurt in my fridge – we go through at least two a week.

I had just bought a fresh watermelon this morning at a farmstand near my home, so that became the base ingredient for my lunchtime salad pictured above. Fried Chipotle Haloumi sat atop large cubes of chilled watermelon. I added a few fresh pickings from the herb and salad garden and topped the whole dish with finely julienned carrot, cucumber and beetroot. Some pomegranate and avocado oil vinaigrette and we were ready to eat.

The trick with haloumi is to fry it gently in a soft odourless cooking oil like grapeseed oil, until the interior is melted and gooey. This chipotle version of halloumi is coated in a spicy sauce, so take care not to let the frying pan get very hot. Fry the whole 200g block at once, turning it after about 2-3 minutes to cook on the other side. Get everything ready to assemble before you throw the cheese into the pan. The water melon and herbs can be already arranged on the plate, with the julienned vegetables piled up ready to be placed on top of the hot cheese.

Cut the hot chipotle Haloumi cheese into neat fingers with a very sharp knife, toss it onto the watermelon, add the julienne of vegies and drizzle over some vinaigrette. Eat at once. Delightful smoky, slightly spicy and so delicious.