SAY CHEESE
By Peter G • Feb 7th, 2007 • Category: Greek Food, RecipesI’m back and it feels great!!!
As I promised yesterday I’m itching to get back into the kitchen. After a busy week that included Biteclub I feel like cooking greek food. Or maybe “greek style food”. Let’s not get too involved with what constitutes “greek food”. When I head into a greek restaurant on the odd occassion, I certainly don’t see my mother and father’s cooking on display. It’s similar but not the same. Moving on…
As I returned form the Fox Studios Farmers Markets with a whole bunch of goodies, my mind was racing about what I was going to prepare. I remembered the halloumi cheese I had bought the other day at Broadway. I looked at my banana chilles, and I thought voila!!! A marriage made in heaven. Halloumi cheese originates from Cyprus and is traditionally made from a mixture of goats and sheeps milk. Naturally its hard and quite salty and has very similar characteristics to mozzarella. It has Jekyll and Hyde characteristics though!!! Cook it and it goes soft!!!…Its amazing. I like to add it to salads or serve it with caramelised onions as a canape. This is what I came up with:
Slice a few banana chilles in half and grill them until they go brown. Once they’re cooked macerate them in a mixture of olive oil, vinegar and garlic. The grilled smokiness of the chilles combined with the olive oil, vinegar and garlic is a beautiful smelling combination.
Chop up some cos lettuce. Not too fine though. Add some beautiful chopped cherry tomatoes and top with the grilled haloumi. Just a word of warning. Don’t cook it too long as it can literally get too soft and then it gets messy!!! Finally add the grilled banana chilles and drizzle the garlic, olive oil and vinegar mixture over the salad. Add some olives if you have any. I forgot on this occassion. Anyway, it makes a great starter for a dinner party and it looks mighty pretty too. Enjoy!!!
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Peter G is a passionate foodie of Greek descent living in Australia. You'll usually find him cooking up a storm in the kitchen and photographing all his exploits.
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