Haloumi with roasted rhubarb & tomatoes

November 24, 2022

   

Haloumi is so tasty straight up that I'm rarely inclined to do anything extra or new with it. We typically just tuck it into Turkish bread sandwiches with roasted veges, and sometimes put it in a salad. This In Praise of Veg recipe is another fantastic option that's just barely any extra effort: fried haloumi pieces topped with a sweet and sour medley of roasted rhubarb, sliced shallots and cherry tomatoes in red wine vinegar. It would make an excellent light meal with just a green salad on the side, but we ate it with a heftier side dish that will appear in my next post.

Haloumi with roasted rhubarb & tomatoes

(a recipe from Alice Zaslavsky's In Praise of Veg)

4 rhubarb stalks (about 250g)

2 French shallots, thinly sliced

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

100g cherry tomatoes, halved

200g haloumi, sliced into 1cm thick pieces

2 tablespoons olive oil

Preheat an oven to 190°C. Line a baking tray with paper.

Wash and trim the rhubarb stalks. Cut them into 4cm lengths, and cut any thicker pieces in half lengthways so that they're all a similar size. Place them on the baking tray, along with the sliced shallots. Spread over the sugar, vinegar, salt and pepper and mix everything to combine. Cover the tray with foil and bake for 10-15 minutes, until the rhubarb is tender but still holding its shape.

Place the tomatoes in a bowl and pour the roasted rhubarb mixture over the top, so that the heat transfers to the tomatoes.

Fry the haloumi slices in the olive oil, until they're golden on each side. Serve the haloumi with the rhubarb mixture and all of its juices spooned on top.