halloumi and strawberry salad with sweet chilli lime dressing

strawberry salad

If you have never had halloumi cheese before you are in for a treat. Uncooked, halloumi is a white, rubbery textured cheese, with very little flavour except for salt! However, once it had been grilled, griddled or fried and dressed with a little lemon juice or a light dressing, it becomes fabulously tangy with a curious "squeaky" texture. I also think that the salty halloumi works really well with sweet fruit, especially strawberries, in a savoury salad, but why not try it for yourself?

Serves 4
Skill level: Easy

strawberry salad
with halloumi and
sweet spicy dressing

ingredients:
1 x slab of halloumi cheese (about 600g), cut into slices
mixed salad leaves (rocket, nasturtium, mizuna, spinach, watercress, lambs lettuce, purslane, Lollo Rossa, oak leaf, baby red chard, baby beetroot leaf, et al)
1 x celery stick, finely chopped
10 x strawberries, quartered
10 x baby plum tomatoes, cut into eighths
30g kalamata olives, quartered

½ x orange or red pepper, finely chopped

fresh chives, to serve
sweet chilli lime dressing
4 tbsp olive oil
1 x fresh lime, juice and zest
2 tsp honey
1 x red chilli, roughly chopped
1 tbsp fresh mint
salt and freshly ground black pepper

directions:

1. Whizz all the ingredients for the dressing in a blender. If you are using solid or set honey, you may need to warm the jar in a bowl of boiling water to soften for a few minutes before adding to the dressing.
2. Place all the salad leaves in a large bowl and scatter over the chopped salad vegetables.
3. Preheat a frying or griddle pan for several minutes until it is very hot. A good way of testing this is to hold your hand about 15 centimetres above the pan. If you can't hold it there for more than 8 to 10 seconds, then the pan is hot enough!
4. Your slices of cheese need to be about the thickness of a one pound coin but less than a centimetre.
5. Griddle the halloumi cheese for about 2 minutes on each side, until a very light golden brown.
6. Add the grilled cheese and dressing to the salad, toss gently and serve immediately topped with a few chopped chives.

tip:

• Add chopped papaya and/or mango, tossed in a little lime juice, to the salad for extra fruitiness.