Halloumi Salad

Halloumi is a Greek cheese that is very salty and firm, which is great for cooking. It does not crumble like feta nor does it melt like mozzarella, so when you fry or sauté it in a pan, it just turns a beautiful golden brown. I did just that along with frying some pancetta to make a salad that was filling enough to be dinner. I also made the salad dressing right in the warm pan kind of like the French do it. There is no need to add salt to the dressing or the salad since the cheese, pancetta and mustard in the dressing all add their own saltiness.
If you don’t have pancetta, feel free to use bacon and not sure what a good substitute for halloumi would be. It is very salty and kind of rubbery when you chew it, making a fun squishy sound. I love it. I can find it at my local grocery store nowadays, so you might be able to as well. If not, you can buy it online or simply use feta instead, although I would omit cooking the feta and simply add it fresh.

4 cups lettuce
½ cup diced halloumi cheese
¼ cup diced pancetta
¼ cup chopped cherry tomatoes
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp mustard
Half a lemon

Serves2

Fry the pancetta over medium heat in a dry nonstick pan until brown but not overly crisp. Remove to a plate and add the halloumi cheese to the pan with the pancetta drippings. Add a little bit of the oil if the pan is too dry. Fry the cheese on all sides over high heat until golden brown, which should be a couple of minutes. Arrange the lettuce in a bowl and toss the fried cheese, pancetta and tomatoes over it. Turn the heat to low and add the oil, mustard and the juice of the lemon. Whisk together for a couple of minutes to emulsify, then drizzle the warm dressing over the salad and toss to combine before serving.