Minted Halloumi Salad

Now this is cool. I encountered halloumi cheese watching Nigella Bites. Nigella Lawson is just about the sexiest person on the planet. Her appeal only increased for me when she introduced me to a cheese that you can cook in a pan. Halloumi gets brown and crispy on the outside and melty in the middle. Heaven!

It's not a cheese I'd ever seen at the grocery store, so I kind of forgot about it, but I was in the cheese section the other day and lo and behold, there it was. I took it home and googled halloumi salads. One ingredient that kept popping up with halloumi was mint. I'm sold. Anything with mint is great in my book. I picked this recipe and I plan to make one that involves green beans and watermelon soon.

The original recipe called for capers, which I didn't have. I know capers are salty, so the first time I made this salad, I just added a little fish sauce to the dressing to make up for it. Once the salad was assembled, though, I discovered that the cheese itself had enough saltiness and what was needed was a little more sweetness. Thus, I omitted the fish sauce and increased the honey when I made it again. I also added way more mint than the recipe called for because I have a lovely little mint plant that grows like the weed it is. I put the original measurement below, but you can add as much as you want depending on how much you love mint. Chris loved this dish. We've had it for three meals in two days! Here's the recipe:

Minted Halloumi Salad (makes two dinner-sized servings)
Adapted from ASDA website

Ingredients:
1 bag mixed greens
12 baby plum tomatoes, halved
4tbsp olive oil
2tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp honey
Small handful fresh mint, chopped
Kosher salt
Freshly cracked pepper
1 package halloumi cheese, thickly sliced

Instructions:
1. Combine oil, lemon, honey, and mint in a jar. Shake well.
2. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
3. In a dry pan, cook sliced halloumi until well browned on both sides (about 2 minutes per side).
4. Arrange cheese on greens and tomatoes, and top with dressing.
5. Serve with toasted pita triangles.

Pairs nicely with a sunny afternoon.