Halloumi Melon salad

Halloumi makes a great salad ingredient as it's salty and has lots of texture. It supports lots of other flavours like melon or walnuts.

This is my quick and easy halloumi salad recipe thrown together with some baby leaves, cantaloupe melon and a simple dressing of lemon, extra virgin olive oil and salt.

The cheese

Though many salad recipes love to griddle the halloumi, I find this sometimes makes them a little hard and plasticky when added to a salad.

I cut the halloumi block into bitesize chunks, add them to a bowl and pour boiling water over them for a minute or two to get rid of the excess salt.

Don't forget them in the bouling water too long or they will melt!

When you drain the water away, you will notice the texture of the cheese is soft and squishy which makes it easier to eat in the salad.

The Melon

Lots of people love to eat watermelon with cheese and I am one of them, especially for breakfast.

Yet I find for a salad, cantaloupe melon holds up much better and doesn't emit too much water.

Simply remove the seeds with a spoon and cut into bitesize chunks. When I say bitesize try and keep them fairly consistent and not too small.

Substitutions

Salads are meant to be flexible so use what you have and it's fine to swap things around, the most important thing is to balance all the elements.

• Melon - instead of cantaloupe melon, you can also use watermelon or honeydew varieties.
• Nuts - If you don't have walnuts, any other nuts will add texture such as pistachios or pine nuts.
• Leaves - If you like your lettuce peppery, feel free to use other salad leaves such as rocket. You can also add herbs like fresh mint, zaatar or oregano.

Top Tips

I always smell my melons before I buy them. If you can catch the scent inside, likely it will be a sweet melon.

This salad doesn't need a lot of dressing as there are lots of strong flavours. A little squeeze of lemon, a small drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a little sprinkle of salt is all you need.

Salads don't like to be stored as the leaves wilt, so if you are eating for one, make half the melon and half the cheese block.

📖 Recipe

5 from 1 vote

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Halloumi Melon salad

Healthy halloumi salad with melon and walnuts.

Course Salad

Cuisine Lebanese

Keyword Fresh, Healthy, Quick and Easy

Prep Time 10 minutes

Servings 2

Author Zaatar and Zaytoun

Ingredients

• 1 pack halloumi cheese approx 250g
• 1 cantaloupe melon
• 1 baby leaf salad pack approx 100g
• few walnuts crumbled
• squeeze of lemon
• drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
• sprinkle of salt
• 2-3 cups of boiling water

Instructions

1. To prepare the halloumi, cut the block of cheese into bitesize cubes. Transfer to a deep bowl and cover with boiling water for 1-2 minutes. Drain in a colander
2. Cut the cantaloupe melon in half, scoop out the seeds with a spoon and cut into bitesize chunks
3. In a large salad bowl, arrange the baby leaves, then add the melon and halloumi on top
4. Crumble a few walnuts, add a squeeze of lemon, drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a small sprinkle of salt
5. Taste and adjust the seasoning as necessary. Serve immediately.

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