Couscous Salad with Grilled Halloumi

With fall being just around the corner, our outdoor BBQ and grilling days are numbered. I know when December and January rolls around, I am really going to be missing hanging out on the patio and eating grilled chicken, burgers and grilled veggies. So in these last few weeks of prime BBQ and grilling season, indulge in your favourite grilled foods and mix it up with this recipe for Couscous Salad with Grilled Halloumi.

Halloumi is a very firm cheese that originated on the island of Cyprus. It is typically made with a combo of sheep and goat milk (or even cow milk), salt and dried mint. Once made, the cheese sits in brine and gets super flavourful and firm. Now when I say that it is a firm cheese, I mean it. This cheese is so firm that you can grill it, pan fry it, do whatever you want to it over a heat source and it will not melt. It’s kind of magical actually.

When it is cooked, it becomes soft and creamy. Contrary to popular belief, many people think that halloumi is squeaky or really chewy when cooked, but in fact, this is a sign that the cheese is undercooked. But hey, even if it is undercooked and squeaky, it is still delicious in my opinion!

In this summer recipe, I marinate halloumi in olive oil and garlic, grill it, and then place it on a nice bed of couscous salad. The salad contains couscous (a dried pasta that is rehydrated quickly with water), grilled peppers and zucchini, parsley, basil, mint and a light lemon and olive oil dressing- very Mediterranean.

You can serve the salad hot, cold or at room temperature, but in the summer I prefer a nice cold salad with hot grilled halloumi! No matter how you serve it up, it’s guaranteed to be delicious!

For the full recipe, click here!