Grilled Vegetables & Halloumi with Herb Dressing

Grilled vegetables with halloumi make a delicious salad. Pour over some herb and yogurt dressing and you have the perfect summer lunch.

Our grilled vegetables with halloumi is the picture of summer dining on a plate. Drizzle over our fresh herb dressing and you have a salad main course that everyone will enjoy.

I love pretty much all vegetables and salad is something I eat a lot of. By grilling the vegetables you really add to the flavour of the dish. Grilled vegetables have a wonderfully smokiness that really changes the salad up.

This is a salad that can be enjoyed by everyone and is ideal for those of us who want to increase the amount of meat free meals in our weekly diet.

When grilling the vegetables I’d recommend that you use the vegetables that you like to eat, mixing it up by using a variety of different colours to make the plate extra vibrant. After all, we should all be eating a rainbow of food.

The idea for this dish came from a lunch I had in Singapore many years ago. I remember at the time marveling at the vibrant yellow squash, something I’d never seen before. Nowadays of course I grow yellow courgettes in pots in my garden.

What is Halloumi?

Halloumi is a semi-hard cheese originating from the Mediterranean Island of Cyprus. It is made from goats or sheep milk, or a combination of both.

This rindless cheese has a tangy, salty flavour and there is a slight spring to this cheese. It's high melting point makes it the ideal cheese for either frying or grilling.

Our grilled halloumi is salad, is delicious as we pair this cheese with Mediterranean grilled vegetables. Halloumi cheese is a great alternative to meat in this salad.

Grilled Vegetables with Halloumi - recipe steps

• Look out all your ingredients and prepare the vegetables ready to start grilling.

How to grill vegetables

• Place a grill pan on the hob over a medium/high heat.
• Add the peppers to the grill pan, skin side down and heat until the skin has completely blackened.

• Once the skin on the peppers has blackened, pop into a plastic bag and seal.
• Steam the peppers for 10 minutes, after which time the skins will simply slip off. Wash under cold running water and pat dry with kitchen paper.

• Now continue to grill the courgettes, red onion and aubergine. You want a nice char on the vegetables, but take care not to burn.

• Lay the grilled vegetables to one side and finish by grilling the halloumi cheese.

How to make the herb & yogurt dressing:

• Place the herbs into food process along with the fresh lemon juice.

• Blitz to smooth and season to taste with sea salt and black pepper.

• Now add in the Greek yogurt and give it a final blend together. Set aside in the fridge until ready to assemble.

Before and after shots!

We think it's good to have a look back and see just how we've come since we started blogging. We first published this post in July 2014 and thought the post was well overdue a revamp.

If there is one photo that we laugh at more than any other it's this post. A delicious recipe completely overshadowed by some seriously bad food styling!

What were we thinking? I'm sure you'll agree that our new shot is far more appetising - same food, different plating! Yes we've learnt a lot over the years.

Recipe substitutions and variations

• Vegetables, we used a combination of Mediterranean grilled vegetables in our salad. Use the vegetables that you enjoy eating and vary the colours for a rainbow of vegetables on your plate.
• Fresh vine tomatoes are sliced and combined with the grilled vegetables to add a lovely freshness to this grilled vegetable salad. You can also use plum or beef tomatoes.
• Halloumi cheese has a high melting temperature making it the ideal cheese to grill for this salad. However, you could leave off the grilled cheese if you prefer and replace the halloumi with a ball of mozzarella cheese or a soft ball of creamy burrata instead.
• Parsley, mint and coriander are the herbs used to form the base of the salad dressing. These herbs are freshened up with a squeeze of lemon juice. You can add any combination of green leafy herbs that you like.
• Greek yogurt is added to the herb dressing to give the dish a creamy element. It is not essential to the dressing and you can leave it off if you prefer or substitute with some buttermilk or sour cream.
• Pistachio nuts add crunch to the finished salad. Use any toasted nuts like hazelnuts or almonds or add some toasted pumpkin or sunflower seeds instead.
• Pomegranate seeds add a pop of sharp fruit to the salad. If you don't like pomegranate then leave it off.

Can I make this grilled vegetable salad ahead of time?

This is a great make ahead salad. You can grill the vegetables, grill the halloumi and make the salad dressing up to a day before hand. Place all the elements into individual containers with a lid.

Pop the containers into the fridge and when you are ready to eat, assemble the salad, drizzle over the yogurt and herb dressing and serve.

Useful hints and tips:

1. When grilling vegetables always start with the peppers as this allows time for the peppers to steam in a bag so that their skins are easily removed.
2. To char the vegetables we used a grill pan placed on a hob. However, you can also use a gas or charcoal barbecue to grill the vegetables and cheese. This will really intensify the smoky flavours in the salad.
3. To make this salad suitable for dairy free or vegan diners leave the halloumi off the dish and replace the Greek yogurt in the salad dressing with a vegan alternative.
4. This gluten free salad is suitable for Coeliacs or anyone following a gluten free diet.
5. For nut free diets remove the pistachio nuts from the salad.

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Additional recipe suggestions

If you like this recipe then try some of my other salad recipes:

• Roast Pumpkin Salad
• Peach & Burrata Salad with Candied Pecans
• Smoked Mackerel & Beetroot Salad
• Pear, Walnut & Blue Cheese Salad
• Ham, Fig & Blue Cheese Salad
• Chicken & Asparagus Salad
• Spicy Chickpea & Carrot Salad with Harissa Dressing

Love salad? Then head to my Best Salad Recipes post where you will find links to all our favourite salads in one place.

This salad also works well as part of a mezze style dinner. For more recipes read my Easy Mezze Platter Ideas post.

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