I love fruity salads, this is an unusual but beautifully sweet combination.The melon and halloumi go amazingly well with the rocket, watercress and spinach. It has a little lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper for the dressing. Super fresh and light! A perfect addition for an Easter spread or summer barbecue.
Swap for vegan halloumi if you’re vegan or you don’t like halloumi cheese. You could probably use any kind of melon here too, watermelon would be a great alternative.
It takes around 20 minutes (start to finish) to throw this all together. I wanted to make a bright dish that only needed one ingredient to be cooked. When it’s hot out you could just put the halloumi on the barbecue with everything else.
Put down your salad leaves of choice, drizzle over some olive oil and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper followed by melon, halloumi, torn mint leaves and toasted seeds.
Simple Melon and Halloumi Salad
An unusual but beautifully sweet combination. The melon and halloumi go amazingly well with the rocket, watercress and spinach. With lovely Spring colours it’s the perfect salad for an Easter spread or to serve up at a summer barbecue – it’s so simple to make too. It could easily be a side dish with grilled chicken or a decent veggie main with some quinoa, lentils or cous cous added to the mix!
- 1/2 ripe cantaloupe melon, cut into long chunks
- 1/2 honeydew melon, cut into long chunks
- 200g halloumi cheese, cut into 1cm thick squares
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed and minced
- 3 tbsp of olive oil
- 80g rocket, watercress and spinach leaves
- juice and zest of 1 lemon
- a handful of fresh mint, roughly torn
- 2 tbsp pine nuts or sunflower seeds, toasted
- Sea salt and black pepper, to taste
First cut the melon into slices, de-seed and then into chunks, carefully remove the skin.
Heat the oil in a large pan and add the garlic and halloumi slices. Cook on each side for a couple of minutes or until golden brown and leave to one side. Use the same pan to toast the pine nuts or sunflower seeds.
Put the rocket, watercress and spinach leaves on a plate. Pour the lemon juice, zest and olive oil and mix well. Season with salt and pepper.
Arrange the halloumi and melon slices on top of the leaves. Sprinkle over torn mint leaves and toasted pine nuts.
* If it’s easier just cheat and buy pre-packaged melon slices to make this salad (absiutely no judgement here). Add some cooked quinoa or cous cous to make it a veggie main or grilled chicken or fish for meat eaters.
