Grilled or barbecue haloumi cheese with roasted courgette, peppers and cherry tomatoes

The finished product.
The finished product.
Cimichurri sauce step 1).
Cimichurri sauce step 1).
Cimichurri sauce step 2).
Cimichurri sauce step 2).
Cimichurri sauce step 3).
Cimichurri sauce step 3).
Cimichurri sauce step 4).
Cimichurri sauce step 4).
Roast vegetables step 1).
Roast vegetables step 1).
Roast vegetables step 2).
Roast vegetables step 2).
Roast vegetables step 3).
Roast vegetables step 3).
Roast vegetables step 4).
Roast vegetables step 4).
Grilling the haloumi.
Grilling the haloumi.

Daniel Pfyl, hospitality management lecturer at Otago Polytechnic, shares some professional techniques to make your cooking easier. This month, he shows us how to grill haloumi cheese, make a chimichurri sauce and roast some vegetables.

Make the sauce first so the flavours can infuse.

Chimichurri sauce is like a salsa verde and usually served with grilled meat in Argentina, but it's versatile and goes well with grilled haloumi and roast vegetables.

 

Grilled or barbecue haloumi cheese with roasted courgette, peppers and cherry tomatoes, with Argentinian chimichurri sauce
For four portions

Ingredients

500g haloumi cheese
400g courgettes
1 red pepper
1 punnet cherry tomatoes
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Chimichurri sauce

1 clove garlic
1-2 cups fresh herbs - parsley, oregano, mint, coriander, plus a spring onion or two
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
flaky salt and freshly ground pepper

 

Method for chimichurri

1) Slice and roughly crush the garlic.

2) Roughly chop the herbs.

3) Put them in a mortar with some flaky salt and work with a pestle until almost smooth.

4) Alternatively, put everything in a processor or blender and whizz until almost smooth. Stir in oil and red wine vinegar (not balsamic), season with pepper and more salt if needed. Set aside for the flavours to infuse.

To roast the vegetables

1) Preheat oven to 180degC.

2) Wash and cut the courgettes in half lengthways. Cut diagonally into 1cm slices. Wash and cut the pepper in half. Remove seeds and the pale membrane. Cut into similar-sized pieces as the courgettes.

3) Sprinkle with olive oil, salt and pepper and toss to coat. Put in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes.

4) Turn over the vegetable pieces, add the whole cherry tomatoes and return to the oven for another few minutes until the tomatoes are starting to soften and burst. Sprinkle with balsamic vinegar.

Haloumi is a firm cheese, originally from Cyprus, with a high melting point, so it can be grilled or browned without melting which gives it a crisp, flavoursome crust.

To prepare the haloumi

1) Pat the haloumi dry and cut into thick slices. Heat a non-stick pan, or a heavy pan with just a smear of oil. When hot, place the haloumi slices in it and allow to sizzle and brown on the bottom. Turn and brown the other side. When both sides are brown, rest on kitchen paper.

2) Arrange grilled cheese and roasted vegetables on a plate and serve with chimichurri sauce.

 


If you would like to request a particular technique we haven't already shown, please let us know. Write to Cooking 101, Editorial Features, Otago Daily Times, PO Box 181, Dunedin or email odt.features@odt.co.nz with cooking 101 in the subject line.

To check earlier Cooking 101 columns visit: www.odt.co.nz and search for ''cooking 101''.

More information on cooking from Otago Polytechnic can be found on www.otagocookeryl4.blogspot.com


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