The pairing of salty halloumi with this honey, chilli and ginger dressing is I think a winner. I remove all the seeds from the chilli as it is still quite spicy-hot once heated and cooked with the honey for a few minutes. This way you can still taste the sweet honey, aromatic ginger and spicy chilli which hits the saltiness of the haloumi… all in the same bite. Pistachio adds texture, colour and always a lovely flavour.
Serves: 4
Preparation: 5 minutes
Cooking: 5 minutes
Ingredients
For the dressing:
● 1 red chilli
● 4 tbsp honey
● 1 tsp grated ginger
● Juice of ½ lemon
● 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
● Sea salt and black pepper
For the salad:
● 500g halloumi cheese
● 80g baby leaves salad or rocket
● 50g pistachio nuts, roughly chopped
Method
● First prepare the dressing: rinse, deseed and slice the chilli – I suggest using gloves to do this.
● Put the chilli in a small saucepan with the honey, grated ginger, a couple of tablespoons of water and a pinch of salt. Bring it to the boil over a low heat and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Switch off and keep aside, covered, until ready to use. This may well be too much dressing for the salad so use as much as you want and keep any left over in a small jar in the fridge. It keeps for a couple of weeks.
● Slice the halloumi into roughly 1cm slices and grill them over a nonstick pan or griddle - no need for oil - over a medium heat for a couple of minutes until they are partially melted and golden.
● Meanwhile, scatter the salad leaves on a platter and roughly chop the pistachios.
● To assemble the salad, arrange the hot halloumi cheese over the leaves, drizzle the honey and chilli on top and scatter with the pistachios.
● Sprinkle over a little salt and pepper and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.
● Serve immediately.
