The weather’s warming up, and as such, folks are starting to dust off their grills for some good, old-fashioned grilling action. Today’s guest post is from Angie Simpson, a fabulous Bay Area foodie who’s all about food that’s both healthy and interesting – and what’s not intriguing that cheese you can throw on the grill, straight-up? Please welcome Angie and answer her question in the comments: what do you use smoked paprika for?
After a recent beach day, we’d decided to make pizza in an attempt to use up the rest of our CSA box. On a quest for interesting cheese to make chard taste good, we stumbled into The Cheese Boutique in the Sunset District of San Francisco. Unlike most cheese shops in SF, it’s pretty no frills, and as one online review pointed out, it’s not the
kind of place where they know the goat herder and the goats get weekly Reiki attunements. But they did have a solid selection at decent prices, and tiny little packages of Haloumi—billed as the cheese you can grill. And as any foodie knows, cheese has the power to make any day better.
Indigenous to Cyprus, Greece, Haloumi tastes and has a texture like a mixture of feta and mozzarella. Haloumi has a higher melting point than most cheeses, which makes it ideal for grilling as it holds it shape under high heat. It won’t get runny or gooey, and you can create some beautiful char marks to increase visual appeal. We pan fried ours as part of a late night snack, but can’t wait to break out the barbeque to make more.
We’ve also been playing around with smoked paprika; I’d love to hear what dishes you use it for!
Mediterranean Mezes: Haloumi Squares with Tapenade
- 1 tin of smoked paprika
- 2 pounds Haloumi cheese
- 1 jar of Kalamata olive tapenade
- A handful of cherry tomatoes
- 1 bunch flat leaf parsley
- Slice the Haloumi into pieces between a quarter and half inch thick. Lightly dust the slices with smoked paprika and gently rub into the surface of the cheese.
- Over medium heat, pan-fry the cheese until brown and crispy on the outside. The cheese will bubble off some of the oil and develop a crunchy crust. And should any small pieces crumble off the edges, those can be tossed in the pan too for a little nibble of yum.
- Once the cheese is crispy to your liking, top with tapenade and garnish with parsley and a cherry tomato.
- We found that these were best warm and gooey, but were still pretty tasty at room temperature.
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Yum! I’ve only had halloumi a few times but I love the flavor, and it sounds great with the smoked paprika.
.-= Check out Kalynskitchen´s last blog post: Recipe for Arugula Chickpea Salad with Feta and Balsamic-Tahini Vinaigrette =-.
This is so funny because I bought cherry tomatoes, olives, and halloumi at the market last weekend so we could grill out and make a similar version of this recipe. I love the idea of using smoked paprika. Normally, I just brush the halloumi with lemon juice and olive oil.
Haloumi! This sounds great – and I’m going to try to get my hands on some as soon as possible!
hadn’t thought of putting haloumi on the grill — great idea, and so is the smoked paprika.
.-= Check out Kerry´s last blog post: Tune In: Nuala Kennedy =-.
smoked paprika is such an amazing spice! love how it smells, esp on the grill! looks delicious Steph!
Grilling cheese. I love it! I’ve fried Mexican cheese before, but I’ve never thought of grilling it. I’m putting this on my list for this summer.
Funny, I had haloumi this afternoon. Your shot looks great. I love Haloume alone or on a salad or with lamb or in a pastitsio or … well, you get the idea.
I like using smoked paprika on eggs — omelettes, hard boiled, egg salad. All great. I use it when I’m making a rub for meat. It’s flavor holds up to the bold tate of a thick steak or short ribs.
This looks fantastic. I just seared salmon with smoked paprika tonight, yum.
Very simple recipe that looks like a winner. Thanks for the idea, can you think of any easy variations that might work?
It just so happens I have a chunk of haloumi in my fridge…calling out to me to make this very dish, apparently. And I will.
OMG I LOVE Halumi – was introduced to it on Cyprus and for the longest time couldn’t find it anywhere in the states. Now you can buy very expensive water packs of it at upscale supermarkets….but it’s worth it. Grilled on French bread, or just eaten out of hand….thanks for the recipe….
I use it to make Chorizo!!
Delicious! I never heard of this kind of cheese before. What kind of milk is it made from?
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