Summer arrived… briefly!
I feel like every time i write a blog post i start off with complaining or mentioning the weather, but honestly it’s because i feel like i’m talking to my friends – and i am right?
Husband and i was out in the garden and we were discussing how we never really eat salads for dinner and after having many wholesome, filling salads on holiday and in restaurants, i thought i’d focus on trying to create a salad recipe into our midweek meals- that would be as tasty as any other meal. But hey, i’m not saying this is going to be a crazy healthy one… no-one said to cut out cheese right?
Sainsbury’s kindly sent me some of their Cider Vinegar and Rapeseed oil, i’m a huge fan of Rapeseed oil in general, it’s got a lovely golden colour – cooks to a good amount of heat and has a great flavour that works with almost anything.
I much prefer a warm salad and as a dinner course i felt it may go down well with the entire family if there was several tasty elements with chewy and salty Halloumi, sweet roasted tomatoes and crunchy toasted almonds. Cover all the bases and you can’t go wrong as long as it all blends together to taste good.
Gluten Free Roasted Halloumi and Tomato Salad with Pesto Vinaigrette
Serves 4
80g Fresh Basil
Lemon Zest of Half a Lemon
200-250ml Rapeseed oil
2 Tablespoons Cider Vinegar
30g Pistachios (Optional)
Salt + Pepper
500g Halloumi cheese, sliced
300g Cherry Tomatoes, halved
Rocket / Watercress (Enough for all)
Sliced Almonds
Turn the oven on to 200 degrees Celsius (Fan).
Make your basil vinaigrette, pop the Basil, zest, 200ml Rapeseed oil, Cider Vinegar, Pistachios into a food processor and whiz until well combined- i like to leave the nuts a bit chunky for more texture but it’s really up to you! Add Salt and Pepper for taste and a bit more oil if you need it.
Lay your sliced Halloumi on one baking tray and space out evenly. Drizzle over a tiny bit of oil and add a bit of pepper.
Lay your cherry tomatoes -inside up on a separate baking tray and scatter over a tiny bit of salt.
Put your Halloumi and Cherry tomatoes in the oven for 10- 15 mins until roasted and golden.
In the meantime, put the sliced almonds into a dry frying pan and toast on a high heat until golden – keep an eye on this to avoid burning.
Lay out your salad in a bowl and dress with oil if you fancy or toss it completely in half of the vinaigrette. We prefer to dollop some on top and put the rest aside, so people can help themselves to less or more.
Take out the Halloumi and tomatoes and add these to the top of your salad.
Scatter over the almonds and dollop over the vinaigrette to your taste.
Serve up!
