I made a Halloumi Salad yesterday for dinner.

After visiting Cyprus in May, I can't get enough halloumi. It's a cheese that you can grill. It has more tooth to it than mozzarella and is slightly salty like Greek feta.  I've never had cheese like this before.

Since my first bite in May, I've eaten halloumi as much as possible and I was thrilled when I found it in the cheese section of Trader Joe's. It went straight in the cart without a second thought.

All week I told my sister: we're going to have halloumi salad. She kept saying: but what is that? <em>Gesh</em>, sisters.
<a title="Halloumi salad by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/10351081324/"><img alt="Halloumi salad" src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5530/10351081324_aeb033308f_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" /></a>
Turns out that she thought it was a cheese salad. Nope. I served up my pan-fried halloumi salad on a bed of fresh spinach, carrots, sliced mushrooms and baby tomatoes. I topped the salad off with a dressing of olive oil, balsamic vinegar and spicy mustard. Then because my sister was worried that it wasn't going to be enough food, I also cooked up some spicy apple sausage.

Needless to say, it was a big hit.<!--more-->

And I was wowed by just how easy it is to grill halloumi. The cheese doesn't require any oil or fat to cook it nor do you need to bread it. Rinse the cheese the under running water because it's sold in a salt brine then towel dry it. Make sure that the pan you are using to cook the cheese in is super hot, turn it down to medium heat and cook the cheese for about 3 minutes a side or until it is a toasty golden brown. Then serve it up on top of the salad.

Trader Joe's also never ceases to amaze me. The halloumi was great. It was just how I remembered it.

Sure I still miss the sandy beaches of Cyprus and the bright blue water but it's nice to know that I can replicate a tiny part of the island here in Seattle.