There’s just nothing better than halloumi cheese in the summer. I wanted to balance and freshen up the salty taste of the cheese so I added watermelon and added some roasted chickpeas for crunch and extra flavor. This was a winner with my family and I think I might have sold my dad on salads. Yay! We had the this alongside our steak dinner (best of both worlds) but it’s really versatile so eat it on it’s own or with whatever.

Ingredients

• Chickpeas drained and rinsed
• Spices for the chickpeas. I used ras el hanout
• Watermelon
• Cucumber
• Different types of salad greens

Mise en place*

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C
2. Toss the chickpeas with olive oil, salt, pepper and spices of choice
3. Roast for around 35 minutes and set aside to cool
4. Slice and cut the watermelon into chunks. Try and resist eating too much of it whilst doing so
5. Shave the cucumber with a peeler to create strands of cucumber

Where the magic happens

1. Slice the halloumi cheese and fry in a hot pan with olive oil until golden brown
2. Assemble the salad by mixing different types of salad greens
3. Top with the strands of cucumber, halloumi, watermelon & chickpeas.
4. Since there is a lot of flavour here I used a simple dressing of oil and lemon juice but feel free to try others and let me know how that went.

*Mise en place is a term used in cooking which when translated means “putting in place.” These are all the preparations that are done before cooking can take place. I put this in a different section because not only will it save you time and stress, but it helps in decreasing mistakes during cooking.