An easy pumpkin salad with halloumi cheese. Quick to make and goes well with grilled meats, making it ideal for busy weeknight meals. It’s gluten free and vegetarian. Great for serving at dinner parties or summer barbecues.
About This Salad
- It’s healthy, gluten free and vegetarian.
- It’s fast to make, making it perfect for an easy weeknight meal.
- It’s budget friendly.
Ingredient Notes
Salad Greens
- I used a Mesclun Salad Mix. It is a combination of chervil, arugula (salad rocket), baby spinach and endive. If you don’t like this type of salad mix, you could use baby spinach instead.
- After washing the salad leaves, put them in a salad spinner to remove the excess water.
- If you don’t have a salad spinner, place about a third of the leaves into a strainer (or colander). Use a large plate or lid to seal the top of the strainer, while holding the lid in place, shake the strainer over the sink to remove the excess water. Repeat for the remaining leaves.
Fresh Coriander (Cilantro)
Fresh coriander leaves (cilantro) gives this salad a unique taste. However, not everyone likes fresh coriander, it can be left out or replaced with fresh flat leaf parsley.
Green Beans
Use fresh green beans, chop of the tips at each end, cut in half and steam or microwave until just tender. When cooked, rinse under cold water to cool completely and drain well. This will help prevent overcooking and keep the beans looking nice and green.
If you can’t get fresh green beans, you could use frozen, cook according the instructions on the packet and rinse under cold running water until cold.
Instructions
Cooking The Pumpkin
- For this recipe I used butternut pumpkin (squash), but other varieties can be used.
- Weigh the pumpkin after it has been peeled and seeded.
- Cut the pumpkin into wedges that are about 1 cm thick.
- I microwaved the pumpkin until just tender, but you could also steam the pumpkin.
- Use a grill pan or barbecue to lightly mark the pumpkin with grill lines.
- When grilling the pumpkin, avoid using too much oil in the grill pan. If too much oil is used, the pumpkin will soak up the oil making it taste oily.
- Lightly season the pumpkin with salt.
Alternatively, if you don’t want to grill the pumpkin, skip the microwave cooking and oven roast until tender and lightly golden. Before roasting, toss the pumpkin in a little olive oil and lightly season with salt.
Preparing the Haloumi Cheese
Fry the cheese last just before serving. Fry it in a lightly oiled grill pan over medium/high heat. Cook for a minute or two on both sides. Cook until charred lines appear on the slices, keep a close eye on it as it can burn easily.
Salad Dressing
The dressing for the pumpkin salad with halloumi is simply olive oil and red wine vinegar. If you don’t like red wine vinegar use balsamic vinegar or use another vinaigrette salad dressing. You will need about 4 tablespoons of dressing for the salad.
Plating Suggestion
We like to plate the salad this way, it just looks better this way. Especially if you are serving the salad warm.
- Place the salad greens onto a large mixing bowl and add about half of the dressing, and gently toss to coat. Transfer the leaves to a single large serving platter or individual flat salad plates.
- Place the pumpkin, beans, coriander leaves, halloumi cheese and the remaining dressing into the same bowl used for the salad greens and gently toss until coated.
- Arrange the vegetables and halloumi on top of the salad greens, and scatter over the pumpkin seeds.
More Delicious Pumpkin Recipes To Try
- Roast Pumpkin Chickpea and Feta Salad
- Baked Roast Pumpkin Feta Frittata
- Pumpkin and Sweet Potato Soup
- Pumpkin Salad With Halloumi and Avocado
- Masala-Roasted Pumpkin Salad With Halloumi
- Grilled Halloumi Salad
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Recipe
Pumpkin Salad With Halloumi Cheese
Equipment
- Chopping board
- Large kitchen knife
- Kitchen scales
- Large pot for steaming or a microwave oven
- Cast iron grill pan
- Tongs
- Large mixing bowl
- Large serving platter
Ingredients
For the salad
- 200 grams green beans tips removed and cut in half
- 650 grams pumpkin peeled and cut into 1 cm thick wedges
- 180 grams haloumi cheese cut into slices
- ¾ – 1 cup loosely packed fresh coriander leaves or flat leaf parsley
- 100 grams Mesclun salad mix or baby spinach leaves
- 1/3 cup toasted pumpkin seeds or roughly chopped walnuts
- Salt optional
For the dressing
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar
Instructions
- Steam or microwave the green beans until just tender. Rinse under cold water to cool, drain well.
- Steam or microwave the pumpkin slices until just tender.
- Lightly oil and heat a cast iron grill pan, the cook the pumpkin on medium/high heat in the grill pan until lightly brown and tender. Transfer to a large plate, lightly season the pumpkin with salt and allow to cool slightly.
- Cook the halloumi in the same grill pan over medium/high heat for 1-2 minutes or until lightly browned. Transfer to a plate.
- Into a large mixing bowl add 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 tablespoon red wine (or balsamic) vinegar, add the salad leaves and gently toss to coat. Transfer the salad leaves to a large serving plate.
- Into the same bowl add the remain 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar, add the pumpkin, green beans, coriander leaves (or parsley) and haloumi, gently toss to combine.
- Arrange the vegetables on top of the salad leaves and sprinkle over the pumpkin seeds and serve.
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