Haloumi is a firm-textured Greek cheese that’s delicious char-grilled. Here it’s served with red onions on a bed of salad leaves, then drizzled with a hot dressing. Serve with seeded bread.
Quick look
- prep 15 min cook 10 min
- serves 4
Ingredients
- 2 1⁄2 tablespoons olive oil, or oil from the jar of dried tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 red onions, cut into thin wedges
- 1 garlic clove, very finely chopped
- 10 semi-dried or sun-dried tomatoes, finely chopped
- 12 pitted black olives, rinsed
- 200 g haloumi cheese, drained and cut into 1 cm thick slices
- 75 g baby spinach leaves
- 50 g arugula
- 1
Whisk together 2 tablespoons of the oil and the lemon juice in a bowl. Put the onion wedges in another bowl, drizzle over 1 tablespoon of this dressing and toss to coat. Set aside. Stir the garlic into the remaining dressing, then add the tomatoes and olives. Mix well and leave to marinate briefly.
- 2
Heat a cast-iron, ridged grill pan over a medium heat, then brush with the remaining oil. Add the onion wedges and cook for 3–4 minutes until nicely browned on the underside. Turn the onion wedges over with a spatula, then put the cheese slices into the pan. Increase the heat a little and cook the onion wedges for a further 3 minutes and the cheese for 11⁄2 minutes on each side until tinged with brown and just beginning to melt at the edges. (Alternatively, cook the onions and haloumi on a sheet of foil under a medium grill.)
- 3
While the onion and haloumi are cooking, mix the spinach leaves and rocket together in a wide salad bowl. Leave in the bowl or serve onto individual salad plates. Arrange the onion wedges and haloumi on top.
- 4
Tip the tomato mixture onto the hot chargrill pan and stir for a few seconds until hot and steaming. Spoon over the haloumi and salad leaves and serve.
