Halloumi Cheese Salad with Mint Dressing

Instructions

1. 01

   Preheat oven to 425

2. 02

   Mix chickpeas, oil, and za’atar together. You can use other spices or simple go with salt and pepper. Feel free to add more salt but be mindful that many za’atar spice mixes already have varying degrees of salt.

3. 03

   Join both vinegars and thinly sliced onions in a small whisking bowl. Let the onions sit in the vinegar while you chop the other vegetables

4. 04

   Chop all the vegetables and assemble in a large bowl with greens. Remove the onions from the vinegar and add to the bowl of salad ingredients.

5. 05

   Add mustard to the reserved vinegar and mix well. Add crème fraiche and maple syrup and blend well. And minced fresh mint. Add salt and pepper to taste. Whisk in olive oil until emulsified. You are purposefully whisking with the fresh mint to help release the mint flavors in the dressing. Letting the dressing sit a few minutes will also help with this.

6. 06

   Halloumi is often sold in plastic blocks with a small amount of brine in the packaging. You want to slice the block in about ¼ slices. Add a very small coating of olive oil (About 1 tablespoon) to a nonstick pan or well season pan (a crepe pan has worked well for me) and set on medium heat. Add cheese slices and cook until the cheese is lightly colored—this will be about 3 or 4 minutes on the first side—and flip the cheese.

7. 07

   Be careful with the second side because it tends to cook faster now that the pan is hot.

8. 08

   Add chickpeas (and/or pita chips) to salad greens. Add dressing and blend well. Adjust for salt and pepper but be mindful that many Halloumi cheeses are quite salty so give that a taste first before adding too much extra salt to your salad.

9. 09

   Plate salad and put cheese slices on top for serving. You should serve the salad as soon as the cheese is done—the texture deteriorates and the crip is lost as it cools-- so time your cheese frying to when you are ready to eat.