Warm asparagus and halloumi salad

We cooked up a right treat tonight! It's the short-lived British asparagus season (generally from 24th April - 21st June) at the moment and we got our hands on a few tender stems and wondered what we could do to celebrate these delicious vegetables. This is what we came up with...

As the weather has been so beautiful and warm recently, we craved a light and delicately flavoured supper. Salads can be dull and uninteresting and often not at all satisfying. This is most definitely not the case here - not only is this dish quick and simple to rustle up, it is absolutely divine and, perhaps unexpectedly, filling. 

We think you will love this. The little nuggets of salty halloumi marry perfectly with the sweetness of the asparagus and the balance of flavours is complimented exquisitely by the garlic oil (see homemade condiments). 

This salad has very few components but we assure you it will not disappoint. Go on, get some British asparagus whilst it's still around (blink and it'll be gone!) and get in the kitchen!

Warm asparagus and halloumi salad

Serves 2

Preparation time - less than 5 minutes

Cooking time - 5 minutes

Ingredients

10 full length British asparagus stems

125 g halloumi cheese

100 g mixed salad leaves 

1/4 tsp cumin seeds

1/4 tsp coriander seeds

2 tbsp garlic oil

salt and pepper

Notes: Snap the woody ends off the asparagus and if it is really woody, then shave off the outer skin from the lower stem. The halloumi cheese must be of a good quality as otherwise it will leak too much water when frying; we use Cypressa. You can use whichever salad leaves you enjoy most, however we used a mixture of spinach, rocket, baby lollo rosso and red chard.

Method

1. Cut your halloumi into 3/4" cubes and set aside in a bowl. Grind the cumin and coriander seeds in a pestle and mortar and sprinkle over the halloumi, coating evenly.

2. Put a griddle pan  (if you don't have a griddle pan then a large heavy based frying pan will suffice  but we do recommend a griddle pan to achieve the best flavour) and a large frying pan on to heat. Meanwhile, prepare your asparagus (as above) and add a chef's measure (see conversion table) of salt and pepper to your garlic oil and brush this mixture onto your asparagus stems lightly. 

3. Place the halloumi into your frying pan and the asparagus into your griddle pan (no extra oil required in either pan). Fry the halloumi until golden brown (don't worry, the joy of this cheese is that it does not melt) - this should take around 5 minutes or so, but keep an eye on it as halloumi will burn quickly. The asparagus will be ready when it has griddle lines on and it is just cooked through (you still want a slight crunch) - this should also take around 5 minutes.

4. Place your salad leaves onto plates and simply toss with the halloumi. Arrange the asparagus stems on top and finish with a drizzle of garlic oil. 

 How could you possibly resist this?!