Delicious served with freshly squeezed lemon juice, the Haloumi could also be garnished with sprigs of fresh mintMany years ago, before my husband and I were married and when we were in between jobs in Tanzania (and waiting for our Work Permits to come through) we ran a hotel just outside the town of Louis Trichardt – which is close to the Zimbabwe / South African border - for a few months.
At the time, the hotel was owned by a Greek family and one of the Greek brother’s (who ran and cooked in his own restaurant in Johannesburg) used to visit for weekends and the 2 things he always used to bring with him were spare ribs and Haloumi cheese.
Now, I had never heard of this traditional Greek cheese until then but he cooked it for us for the first time and we loved it. He served it as a starter drizzled with fresh lemon juice, and to this day that is the way I like to eat it. (Whenever I see it on a restaurant menu, I order it without fail !)
So, you can imagine my delight when I saw Haloumi cheese being sold in our local butchery/deli when we were in the ‘big city’ yesterday. Although traditionally made from goat and sheep’s milk, this was made from cow’s milk but tastes very much the same. It was packaged in a mint water “brine”. (In my opinion, Haloumi is quite similar to Mozzarella cheese in taste and texture ?)
Haloumi is a great cheese as it cooks without melting. I simply sliced it and pan-fried it (with no oil) in a grill pan until the outside was browned and crispy, and served it with some freshly squeezed lemon juice over the top. We ate it just like this, but it would also be lovely as an addition to a salad. If I see it regularly appearing on our shelves here, then I will definitely experiment with it further as a quick Google search this morning confirmed that there are hundreds of different ways in which to prepare it.
At the time, the hotel was owned by a Greek family and one of the Greek brother’s (who ran and cooked in his own restaurant in Johannesburg) used to visit for weekends and the 2 things he always used to bring with him were spare ribs and Haloumi cheese.
Now, I had never heard of this traditional Greek cheese until then but he cooked it for us for the first time and we loved it. He served it as a starter drizzled with fresh lemon juice, and to this day that is the way I like to eat it. (Whenever I see it on a restaurant menu, I order it without fail !)
So, you can imagine my delight when I saw Haloumi cheese being sold in our local butchery/deli when we were in the ‘big city’ yesterday. Although traditionally made from goat and sheep’s milk, this was made from cow’s milk but tastes very much the same. It was packaged in a mint water “brine”. (In my opinion, Haloumi is quite similar to Mozzarella cheese in taste and texture ?)
Haloumi is a great cheese as it cooks without melting. I simply sliced it and pan-fried it (with no oil) in a grill pan until the outside was browned and crispy, and served it with some freshly squeezed lemon juice over the top. We ate it just like this, but it would also be lovely as an addition to a salad. If I see it regularly appearing on our shelves here, then I will definitely experiment with it further as a quick Google search this morning confirmed that there are hundreds of different ways in which to prepare it.
