I am always prone to food phases ..... times when I will continue to have one kind of food or cuisine over and over again till my better half protests demanding for some kind of change! One of my most recent fascinations is Halloumi - it is a firm textured, salty cheese from Greece that can be easily grilled. This cheese has a high melting point and so it responds well to cooking especially grilling and that is exactly how I like to enjoy it. That said, I can already think of atleast ten ways to savor it but I'm trying (very hard) to space my experiments.

Because of the sharp taste this cheese needs some contrast in texture and flavor to complement it nicely and one can choose from several options. I have tried multiple ways of eating this cheese and can't find anything wrong with any of them but one of my favorite ways of having it is like a salad - grilled and placed on top of greens. One can choose from several combinations of greens and dressings as per your taste. What I enjoy immensely is this cheese, grilled and served on a bed of rocket leaves, sprinkled with juicy diced tomatoes or cherry tomatoes and served with pesto dressing. The pesto I like to make to serve with this has a dash of lemon juice added to it to give the added zing that this needs. And really it is so salty that you don't need any salt per se but feel free to sprinkle some sea salt on your salad leaves should you need to.

I have been able to find Halloumi very easily in several supermarkets and gourmet food stores in Mumbai. The best part is that it can be cut into slices and those can be frozen easily. The next time you want to grill some halloumi, just thaw and separate the slices and pop them in a dry pan or on the grill and you're ready for a trip to salted cheese heaven.

Ingredients:

1/2 packet Halloumi cheese

1 pack rocket leaves - washed, dried

1 large roma tomato, diced or 1 cup cherry tomatoes halved

pesto to serve on the side

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Method:

1. Cut the halloumi cheese into slices. Heat a non-stick pan over medium flame and put the slices in it to grill them on both sides. There is no need to add any form of fat/oil as the cheese will release some fat when cooked.

2. Put the rocket leaves, tomatoes on a platter, arrange the grilled cheese slices on top. Mix pesto and lemon juice and serve on the side.