Halloumi Salad With Caper Dressing

Regular readers will know I love quaint cooking books; community and school cookbooks, or just vintage and weird:-)  I bought a cute little book from a High School up the coast a while back, full of homely, family recipes.  There are some fab family dishes here from desserts to pies to bakes.  The book is divided into five sections: bakery/entrées and dips/soups and salads/mains, and desserts.  I like the way they start with Bakery, which has lots of delicious sounding cakes and tarts.  These clever folk have their priorities right:-)  

This book even has a few surprises like a rabbit dish, paella, goulash, and maple syrup glazed lamb shanks.  The photos are attractive, and the book is well set out with 2 recipes to a page.  Mr P. and I love going to Maleny, a hinterland town that has a lot of greenie/hippie type inhabitants.  This lovely little cookbook reflects the diversity of the town.  My fave story of staying in Maleny for the weekend is being bailed up and bitten by a couple of mad donkeys.  Yes I do mean the ones with long ears and big teeth:-)  One of them had a big nibble of my arm!  I hope I was tasty...      

grill your veg. and halloumi

This recipe is provided by Claire Michell, one of the Maleny High students.  Simple but delicious.  


Serves 2 as a main, 4 as a side:


ingredients:


caper dressing


2 tbs extra virgin olive oil

1 tbs lemon juice

1 tbs white vinegar

1 tbs capers 

1 tsp crushed garlic

1 tsp mustard - grain or Dijon

pinch of dried oregano

sea salt and ground black pepper, to taste - maybe 1/8 tsp of each?


Halloumi salad


250g. (8 oz) halloumi cheese

3 zucchini

1 large potato, sliced thickly, parboiled or microwaved

400g. (14 oz) tin or jar of artichoke hearts, drained

1 red capsicum, cut into 4-6 pieces (optional)

1 lemon

2 tbs extra virgin olive oil


Method:


Place the dressing ingredients into a glass jar with a lid

Shake very well, and let it commingle for at least 30 minutes

Slice the halloumi into 8 pieces

Halve the zucchini lengthways, then cut each half into 3 chunks

Quarter the lemon, and put into a large bowl with the halloumi, zucchini, potato, artichokes, capsicum and olive oil

Toss everything gently to coat in the oil

Put everything on a hot grill plate, and let it become beautifully browned and tender

Pile onto a serving dish, and pour the dressing (after a quick shake) over all the delicious veg. and cheese


Notes:

You could use different vegetables with this:  try eggplant. mushrooms, broccolini or asparagus

Mr P. microwaved the potato for three minutes before grilling

Try other herbs in the dressing, like thyme or parsley

Mr P. suggests tzatziki would go well with this, in place of the vinaigrette

dressing ready for a good shaking:-)

shake shake shake ... la la la ...

veg. and halloumi chopped up and ready for the olive oil  

Mr P. microwaved then grilled the potato slices 

toss everything in the olive oil (yeah ok, so I like a glove)

throw the veg on the grill plate

toss gently with the vinaigrette

and eat!

such a cute book, filled with family-friendly recipes 

artwork © Sherry's Pickings