Golden Halloumi with Honey and Thyme

September 7, 2024

14

By:Nagi

Printed:6 Sep ’24Up to date:7 Sep ’24

Right here’s an unbelievably scrumptious 5 minute halloumi recipe: pan fried golden, drizzled with honey and sprinkled with thyme. It’s a stellar mixture of flavours – salty, candy and earthy herb. Nice starter, snack, or make a fundamental salad a lot extra attention-grabbing!

Fried halloumi

It’s unimaginable to withstand devouring golden fried halloumi straight from the pan, when it’s crispy on the floor and gooey inside. And why ought to we? It’s so nice plain!

However at some point, strive it with a drizzle of honey, sprinkle of recent thyme and pinch of pink pepper flakes. It’s Outrageously Scrumptious (caps intentional) and an incredible 2-second-way to decorate up halloumi if you’ve obtained firm.

Serve with heat pita bread, olives, and good olive oil for a easy but totally fulfilling starter!

The golden guidelines of halloumi cooking

It simply so occurs that whereas I’m penning this publish, I’m at my hairdresser, Deange Hair which is owned by Greek sisters. So I’m sitting right here with my head stuffed with goop, having an enthusiastic dialogue with Angela, the youthful sister, concerning the golden guidelines of cooking halloumi. Right here’s what it’s worthwhile to know!

Actual Halloumi from Cyprus: For the most effective outcomes, use genuine Cypriot halloumi. Decrease high quality or imitation varieties gained’t offer you that good golden crust and will crumble when cooked!
Lower it Thick: Slice your halloumi 1 – 1.25cm / 0.4 – 0.5″ thick. Thicker than you suppose! It shrinks about 30% throughout cooking, so thicker slices guarantee a gentle, juicy inside moderately than a dry one.
Use Oil: Don’t skimp on the oil! Halloumi wants it to realize a golden, crispy exterior. With out oil, it can simply burn, brown inconsistently and positively gained’t get crisp.
Pat the Slices Dry: Dry the slices totally earlier than cooking. This step prevents the scorching and spitting of water on preliminary contact, resulting in a greater crust.

Angela’s recommendation is spot on, and I used to be grateful that I checked all her bins. Now halloumi fanatics in every single place can cook dinner it completely too! Who knew a hair appointment might double as a cheese tutorial!? 🧀✨

(I do know what you’re pondering, and NO you aren’t going to get a photograph of me with goop in my hair!!)

What you want

For the crispy golden pan fried halloumi

Simply halloumi and olive oil for cooking!

Halloumi – The model you get issues! Actual halloumi is from the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, not Greece. It is going to fry up golden on the floor and be gentle on the within. Economical manufacturers might be rubbery on the within (even when scorching), or be so bloated with brine they appear to endlessly leech water as they cook dinner and *by no means* go golden, whereas others are simply oddly dry and crumbly.

Search for halloumi with “PDO” on the packet label (Protected Designation of Origin). This can be a mark of excellence that proves a merchandise’ high quality and can’t be used on any product made outdoors of Cyprus. I get Alambra and Dodoni manufacturers.

Olive oil – Although some recipes don’t use oil to cook dinner halloumi, you actually do want a contact of oil to get a pleasant golden crust on the halloumi. With out, you simply get patchy brown components, and in case you attempt to take it additional it simply burns and doesn’t go crispy. So, if you need a very nice golden crispy halloumi, don’t skip the oil!

I like to make use of olive oil as a result of it has extra flavour than unflavoured oils like canola oil and so on. Whereas you should utilize additional virgin olive oil right here as a result of we’re not high-temp cooking, don’t use your great things. Save that for salads and ending dishes!

For the HONEY THYME end (OPTIONAL)

Honey – Or maple syrup, although I personally suppose that the flavour of honey pairs higher. It’s additionally thicker so clings higher.
Contemporary thyme leaves – It’s simply such an incredible earthy flavour that works so properly with the salty-sweet mixture occurring right here! I wouldn’t substitute with dried thyme, it’s simply not the identical. However, hand on coronary heart, that is nonetheless price making with simply honey!
Chilli flakes (pink pepper flakes) – That is elective, so as to add the tiniest delicate trace of heat to this dish and likewise add some pretty pink flecks. For me, it’s simply an easy approach so as to add an additional contact to this dish, however as I discussed, it’s 100% elective!

Different sprinkling / drizzling choices I’ve used and loved over time:

recent oregano (roughly chopped)
walnuts (walnuts + honey is such an incredible, Greek-vibes combo)
different nuts (almonds and pistachios come to thoughts)
white sesame seeds
lemon juice or lemon zest
swish of additional virgin olive oil

How you can make golden pan-fried Halloumi

Good and easy, however please be aware of how thick to chop the slices and patting them dry earlier than cooking!

Lower the halloumi into 1 – 1.25 cm / 0.4 – 0.5″ thick slices. Any thinner, and also you’ll find yourself with halloumi chips. ✨This is among the Golden Guidelines of Halloumi cooking! (See high of publish)✨

I get 7 to eight slices out of a normal 225 – 250g/8 oz block.
Dry – Lay the slices out on paper towels then pat the floor dry as properly. Don’t press down exhausting, we simply need to blot extra moisture off the floor.

Prepare dinner – Warmth the oil over medium-high warmth in a non stick pan. Place the halloumi within the pan rigorously – it can splutter! I exploit my fingers to I can deal with the items rigorously. Prepare dinner for 1 1/2 minutes or till the underside is golden. Initially, they may leech water (the brine contained in the cheese) then ones the water evaporates that’s when the underside will begin to get color.

When to show – Once you see the perimeters of the underside grow to be golden, that’s signal that the entire underside the golden.
Rigorously flip (I exploit a spatula and a butter knife) then cook dinner the opposite facet for round 1 to 1 1/2 minutes till golden.

⚠️ Don’t attempt to cook dinner too many slices within the pan on the identical time, else they may braise and by no means go golden!
⚠️ Transfer the slices round if wanted so that they cook dinner evenly, however the extra you may depart them undistributed, the extra even the golden floor.

Switch immediately onto the serving plate. You possibly can serve it similar to that (which is certainly the most typical approach I eat halloumi!) or end it with the honey and thyme.
End – Working shortly (so you may get it to the desk whereas the centres are nonetheless heat and gentle!), drizzle with honey, sprinkle with thyme and chilli flakes, then serve it asap!

How I eat fried halloumi

So as of frequency:

With fingers, straight off the plate, as a starter. That is most likely the most typical approach I serve it (with and with out the honey). I cook dinner it up when I’ve a couple of spare minutes then cross it round. I actually attempt to minimise cooking time when associates are round however it is a nice one to do as a result of it’s so fast!
As a part of a cheese board unfold. It’s at all times the primary to go (normally as a result of I put it down and flap my fingers round insisting that everybody eat up, eat up, whereas it’s scorching!) 😂
On a salad. Take a bowl of plain leafy greens and plonk a couple of fried halloumi’s on high and woah! Instantly that boring salad is a lot extra thrilling – and passes as a meal, at that! Or, particularly, strive including halloumi onto one in every of these salads to dial them up a notch (skip or scale back any pre-existing cheese in these recipes):

Simply to flag a couple of stand-outs: I feel the Pear Salad wold be spectacular with halloumi as an alternative of blue cheese (fruit + salty cheese + honey + nuts = 💯) as would the French Heat Goats Cheese Salad (made with halloumi as an alternative of goats cheese) and the Pearl Couscous Salad (I really feel like halloumi + shiny lemon dressing + slippery garlicky pearl couscous can be a house run).

Or – simply skip the greenery and follow my #1 methodology of consuming it: with fingers, standing within the kitchen! 😂 – Nagi x