This special salad is worthy of an occasion. Grilled Zucchini, halloumi, salad with sweet little peas make best friends. It is partly BBQ’d with all of the flavours of mint lemon and dijon it’s fresh and summery
Make a salad that is NOT boring this Christmas!
This salad has all the greens plus a zingy delicious salad dressing to make it memorable and special. Serve this salad with fish, chicken or turkey. It will side with steaks, chops or braised lamb. It’s perfect for siding with anything.
I have made the salad as a BBQ version because I love the smokey taste of the grill. Suppose you don’t want to BBQ the vegetables though, you could roast or pan-fry them. The salad can be served at room temperature, warm, or can be made the day before by omitting the mint until the time you serve it. Mint goes brown once added to a dressed salad.
How do you get the most flavour out of dressing?
Part of the flavour you get for this salad (besides the BBQing) is that the dressing is tossed through the vegetables when they are warm. The dressing seeps into everything and makes it taste better
Chunky chopped zucchini, lumps of halloumi and an irresistible lemon, dijon dressing. Make the dressing and pour half onto the chopped zucchini and halloumi. Toss and leave until the BBQ or hotplate is ready and set the remainder aside.
- Marinate the vegetables in the dressing
- Toss well
- and 4. Put all of the vegetables onto the grill reserving whatever is left in the bowl.
Grilled Zucchini is very special. Try it yourself.
I like to make lovely grill marks on my zucchini. Use a flat scraper to get the halloumi off the grill. Leave to get a crust before trying to turn it over. Halloumi can easily stick on the grill bars. Put the halloumi and the grilled zucchini back into the leftover dressing in the bowl.
My son as a teenager, was most embarrassed to find out that “squeaky cheese” was called halloumi and he was very unpleasant to me after being laughed at while out to dinner with friends (hahaha)
Baby peas are so tender. I put them into a bit of hot water just until defrosted, drain and then add them to the bowl of grilled vegetables
Fresh whole leaves of mint are delicious but adding chopped mint alongside that will make the flavour even stronger. Add mint just before serving if you are worried about it discolouring. You can also add chopped parsley for extra beautiful green flavour.
This dazzling salad will be your favourite
This is a simple salad with all the flavours and textures to dazzle. Lemon, dijon, olive oil and mint, hmm, delicious!
If you love halloumi, bonus!
Serve this salad with Dry brined Maple, Miso and Butterbasted Chicken
Grilled Zucchini, Halloumi, Pea salad with Mint, Dijon and Lemon
Ingredients
- 40 ml olive oil 2-3 Tblsp
- 40 ml lemon 2 Tblsp
- 20 gm dijon 2 Tblsp
- 1/2 tsp salt flakes
- 4 grinds black pepper, fresh
- 700 gm Zucchini 3-4 (large)
- 250 gm Peas, baby
- 200 gm Halloumi (or more if you love it)
- 1 bunch mint
Instructions
This salad can be eaten warm, or cold. It can be cooked on a BBQ or a stove top grill pan or just a frypan. It's up to you. It's integrity lies in the fresh bite of zucchini and the zesty dressing. (What that means is don't overcook the zucchini)
Salad Dressing
- Use a small bowl to mix the olive oil, lemon juice and dijon with a few grinds of black pepper and a sprinkling of sea salt. Stir well and set aside
Grilled Bits
- Cut the zucchini into large rounds. Cut the halloumi into equally large pieces. Put them into a large bowl. Add about 1/2 to 3/4 of the dressing and toss through the vegetables.
- Shake off any excess dressing before putting the zucchinis and halloumi on the grill to cook briefly. Keep the leftover dressing and the bowl to put the vegetables back into. WWhen cooking both zucchini and halloumi on a grill plate, let both sit on the grill long enough to get lines on them and they will stick less when you go to turn them over. After both sides of the zucchini are grill marked, they should be about 1/2 cooked through. This is perfect. The halloumi will take a little less time. Don't let it char too much. Toss both back into the leftover dressing.
- Meanwhile, leave the peas to defrost before tossing into some boiling salted water. As the water just starts to boil drain the peas and run them under cold water. Baby peas only need a brief dunk! Drain well
- Pour the peas into the bowl with the zucchini and halloumi and add the extra dressing. Toss well. Add some salt and pepper and chopped and whole mint leaves. Serve
Notes
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