Fried halloumi with lemony honey recipe
Fried cheese is one of life’s greatest pleasures and having experienced many of them, I feel confident saying so. Halloumi, usually a mixture of sheep’s and goat’s milk, is one of the rare cheeses that can be seared. It gets a deep golden, crackly crust. It oozes, spreads and loses form. Delicious. It’s also incredibly salty. To tame the salt, I add red pepper flakes and honey. The chives are extra, but I am who I am. Eat it while it’s hot as halloumi can get squeaky and rubbery as it sits (I’ll still eat it).
Ingredients
- 2 tsp toasted sesame seeds
- 0.5 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 pinch flaky sea salt
- 0.5 lemon
- 3 tbsp runny honey
- 450 g halloumi cheese
- 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
- 1 tbsp chives, finely chopped (optional)
Details
- Cuisine: Middle Eastern-inspired
- Recipe Type: Starter
- Difficulty: Easy
- Preparation Time: 10 mins
- Cooking Time: 10 mins
- Serves: 4
Step-by-step
- In a mortar and pestle, crush the sesame seeds until some of them look powdery or finely chop them. Scoop them into a small bowl and mix in the red pepper flakes and a pinch of salt. Using a Microplane, finely grate the zest from the lemon half over the bowl.
- Use your fingers to mix everything together, making sure the zest is evenly distributed and isn’t clumpy. Set aside.
- Squeeze the juice from the lemon half into another small bowl, catching any seeds with your other hand, and then stir in the honey. Set aside.
- Halve each piece of halloumi on a diagonal. Working with one piece at time, place the halloumi, cut-side down, on a cutting board and slice it lengthwise into triangular planks to make eight pieces total. Pat dry with paper towels to remove any excess moisture, so the pieces will brown nicely.
- Pour the olive oil into a cast-iron or nonstick skillet and place it over medium-high heat for about 1 minute, until hot. Lay the halloumi pieces in the oil and cook, pressing down using a metal spatula to make sure the cheese is browning evenly on the bottom. The oil may pop, but don’t be afraid.
- Sear the halloumi, giving each piece a turn halfway through cooking, until deeply golden brown and crisp around the edges, about 4 minutes on each side.
- Transfer the halloumi to a serving plate and pour on the lemony honey while the cheese is still hot. Sprinkle the spicy sesame salt and chives over the halloumi. Drizzle with a little olive oil and serve.
Extracted from The Cook You Want to Be by Andy Baraghani (Ebury Press, £22.50). Photography by Graydon Herriott.
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