New! Watermelon, halloumi and quick-pickled shallot salad view recipe

Watermelon, halloumi and quick-pickled shallot salad

In the summer, dinner is often as simple as a watermelon salad. Here, I've embraced the extreme sweetness of this fruit by pairing it with aggressively savoury halloumi. You could also use feta, a sharp goat’s cheese or black olives. In this salad, I’ve also added another flavour profile, sour, to help balance the sweet. Quick pickled shallots provide a wonderful piquant zest.

Jump to Recipe

A bowl of salad with watermelon, grilled halloumi cheese, arugula, cucumber, and sliced red onions, garnished with a lime wedge, sits on a white metal table. - Hetty Lui McKinnon

Watermelon offers a somewhat unusual texture in a salad. It is juicy and continues to emit liquid after being cut. To prevent a soggy salad, don’t let your melon hang around. Make and eat immediately. The amount of watermelon used in this recipe is flexible – use more or less, it’s really up to you.

Watermelon, halloumi and quick-pickled shallot salad

Serves

Ingredients

500 g halloumi, drained and sliced into ½ inch pieces
2-3 cups cubed watermelon
3-4 cups rocket (arugula) leaves
10-12 basil leaves, roughly torn
4 Lebanese/Persian cucumbers, sliced
extra virgin olive oil
sea salt and black pepper

Quick pickled shallots

1 shallot (eschalot), very finely sliced
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
pinch of coriander seeds
pinch of sea salt
1 tbsp water

Instructions

To make the pickles, place shallots in a small bowl and pour over apple cider vinegar (enough just to just cover them). Stir, and then add the rest of the ingredients. Allow the shallots to pickle for at least 10 minutes. Can be made a day ahead and allowed to pickle in the refrigerator overnight.
Heat a barbecue, grill or frypan until hot. Coat the halloumi slices in a couple small glugs of extra virgin olive and gently cook the halloumi for 1 minute or each side, or until golden on both sides. Cover with foil to keep warm.
Take a large platter and arrange the rocket leaves all over it. Scatter over the watermelon cubes, cucumber, and torn basil. Tear the halloumi into smaller pieces and add it, along with some drained pickled shallots, to the salad. Squeeze over the lime juice, drizzle over some extra virgin olive oil and season with sea salt and black pepper. Serve immediately.