Ingredient: cherry tomatoes

Halloumi and Grilled Veggie Salad

Adding grilled veggies and halloumi to salad greens makes this salad hearty and delicious. The halloumi and vegetables can be cooked outside on the grill or indoors on the stove-top in a grill pan.

Halloumi is sheep and goat’s milk cheese from the island of Cyprus. A unique characteristic of halloumi is that it has a high melting point making it ideal for grilling or pan-frying. When halloumi makes contact with a hot grill or pan, the exterior begins to turn golden brown and the interior becomes soft.

If you can’t quite wrap your head around grilling the halloumi on a grill, check out this video of Curtis Stone showing you how it is done. Grilling cheese until it’s golden? Sign me up.

To make the grilled veggie and halloumi salad, slice 8 ounces of halloumi into 1/2” slices. For the vegetables, prepare one peeled red onion by cutting into wedges. Cut the two zucchini into thick slices, one red pepper into thick strips, and eight mushrooms cleaned and halved. Place veggies, halloumi, olive oil, salt, and pepper in a large bowl stirring to coat all the ingredients.

Next, in a small bowl whisk together 3 tablespoons of tahini, 2 tablespoons water, 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, 1 tablespoon maple syrup, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Heat grill or grill pan to medium-hot. Cook veggies and halloumi in batches, turning once until charred. Place both halves on the lemon on the grill and cook until you can see grill marks on the lemon.

Arrange salad greens on a large platter, top with grilled veggies, halloumi, tahini dressing and fresh parsley. Season to taste. Squeeze grilled lemon over salad. Serve immediately.

Other veggie-forward meals that you may want to check out:

Tomato and Caramelized Onion Galette

It’s almost like heaven. Fresh, garden tomatoes are everywhere! Neighbors bring them over, coworkers bring them to work, farmers markets have them in a rainbow of colors, and if you are very lucky, you can go into your own garden and pick them just before you eat them. A neighbor was drowning in tomatoes and brought me over some beauties. I made tomato sandwiches, gazpacho, and with the two most perfect specimens I made a tomato and caramelized onion galette.

A galette is similar to pie but it is baked on a baking sheet instead of in a pie pan. Galettes are typically more rustic in nature and you typically don’t see fancy crimping or decorating like you do on pies. Galettes can be sweet or savory. This savory tomato and caramelized onion galette would be my first choice over any fruit pie, any day of the week.

Baking isn’t really my forte so you won’t see a ton of recipes that feature baking rather than cooking. In my mind, cooking is like jazz music, you can freestyle the heck out of most recipes. But, baking is a whole different thing. Baking is like the symphony, where each individual component is perfectly precise and deviations from the plan are not appreciated and can often sink the endeavor.

For these reasons, I typically buy pie crusts in the refrigerator section of the grocery store rather than attempting to make them from scratch. I have several friends who make pie crust from scratch and they tell me it is a cinch. The few times I have tried, I ended up with pile of buttery crumbs. But, if you make excellent pie crusts from scratch, by all means, use those. In fact, why not drop a link in the comments below to the recipe you use. Maybe I will get the nerve up to try again.

But, the real star of this dish is the tomatoes. Don’t you dare use grocery store tomatoes for this recipe! I only make this tomato and caramelized onion galette during the summer months when garden fresh tomatoes are available.

Caramelized onions add a wonderful flavor which complements the tomatoes. You can skip the onions if you don’t have the time or inclination to caramelize the onions but I rarely skip this step because I love what they bring to this dish. I slice the onions vertically. See the video below if you aren’t sure what I mean.

Regarding the cheese, I love the tangy creaminess from the goat cheese but I wouldn’t drive to the store to get goat cheese if I had feta or Parmesan in the fridge. I like to serve this galette with a salad and a crisp white wine.

Looking for other tomato recipes? Check out these posts:

Mediterranean Spring Mix Salad

Is anything more exhilarating than watching the Earth come back to life in the spring? No matter how challenging things are in the rest of the world, a walk around the block can have me whistling a tune in no time. Daffodils and tulips are popping up from the ground, forsythia bushes burst out their bright yellow flowers, and one of my favorite ingredients, spring mix salad greens, make an appearance in my garden. One of my favorite ways to serve spring mix salad is to combine it with Mediterranean flavors of roasted red peppers, olives, pine nuts, and feta.

Spring Mix Salad

Spring Mix Salad is typically a combination the following lettuce types: romaine, oak, leaf, butter, chard, spinach, and arugula. The greens are small and tender. They are also quite delicate so you will want to handle and dress them with care. I like to make a light vinaigrette and sparingly drizzle it over the greens. A spring mix salad is not the salad to pour a glumpy ranch-style dressing over. You will want a hearty romaine or iceberg to stand up to the weight of those types of dressings.

Put the ingredients for the simple Mediterranean-inspired vinaigrette into a Mason jar and shake vigorously to combine. You can make the dressing ahead of time and then shake it up again just before serving. P.S. Some of you have asked about the olive wood Salt Cellarseen in these photos. I have included the link to it.

You can either use jarred roasted red peppers for this recipe or roast your own. If I am not in a mad rush I usually roast them myself over one of my gas burners. You can also roast the red pepper under the broiler or on your BBQ. The key is to let the skin of the red pepper get nice and charred. Then, you place the pepper in a brown paper bag or in a bowl with a cover to steam for 10 minutes. The skin will peel right off.

The salad comes together quickly and makes a great accompaniment for dinner or I love to take it to work for lunch. Just tote your dressing along separately and pour on just before serving. The spring mix salad greens will wilt rather quickly after being dressing so plan accordingly.

How to Make Mediterranean Spring Mix Salad

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