Halloumi, Hello

by Gustav

….And the Greek sea’s curly head
Keep its calms like tears unshed
Keep its calms like tears unshed.

                                    -Lawrence Durrell,   “Bitter Lemons”

The Cypriot cheese halloumi has been getting more press lately and we have seen a growth in its popularity here at the Co-op.  It will be on sale during the month of June so we’d like to offer you some thoughts and recipes. 

The larger Mediterranean islands, like Sicily, Sardinia and Cyprus, have been conquered and colonized by pretty much every European power over the centuries, resulting in rich senses of tradition, impassioned art forms, and- you guessed it- great cuisine. Cyprus is the third and easternmost of those islands, in the Levant, partitioned now between the Greeks to the north and the Turks in the south. The political situation seems peaceful, ameliorated.  We like to think of the warm eastern “Levanter” wind in the cypress trees, the beautifully preserved Byzantine mosaics, and moussaka lovingly served in little individual casseroles. Aphrodite herself, who could presumably have lived anywhere, made Cyprus her earthly home.  There are 300 days of sunshine each year, and many, many sheep and goats. 

Halloumi (you can pronounce without the final ee sound and still be correct: like, “halloom”) was originally a Bedouin cheese made from either sheep’s or goat’s milk. It’s a compact, salty and fibrous little cheese that keeps for a long time so that it would be perfect on caravan, and it gradually became popular throughout the Middle East, Greece and Cyprus.  It is firmer and less salty than most fetas.  The manufacture is similar to that of mozzarella, as the moulded curds are dipped into hot water or whey, and then kneaded, usually with the addition of chopped mint. It is rolled out, aged in baskets and then folded into sensible little oblongs.  The result is pliant, mellow, tangy, and only slightly sheepy.  It slices like Swiss and doesn’t crumble like feta. Its texture lends it to several cooking techniques: it can be grilled, fried, grated or eaten fresh. Some ardent Cypriots eat it three times a day.  In Lebanon it is cubed and kebabbed and sold by street vendors. 

We have been playing around with halloumi and have noticed a few things.  To wit: uncooked, and in a certain light, the cheese has a certain green tinge that, upon further investigation, is not attributed to the mint, but to the nature of sheep’s milk and sheep cheese.  It glows pale green- how curious these milk products!

When preparing halloumi take out your pepper mill but leave the salt in the cupboard.  We rinse off the brine that it comes packed in and pat the cheese dry before proceeding. These Mediterranean cheeses are salty, there’s no getting around it.  Good olive oil and lemon juice have a way of cutting the salinity and we advise their use.  Also, serve halloumi with some sweet cherry or pear tomatoes, or some crisp young cucumbers, or bell peppers. (Those new Persian cucumbers are outstanding.)  Their sweetness also offsets the salt. (Recently, at a very upscale Greek restaurant, we were dismayed that there was nothing vegetable served with the mezze.  Only grilled pita, which was lovely, but a few cherry tomatoes would have worked wonders with the lucious, but salty,  melitzanasalata, tarama, etal. But what do I know?)  There are people who suggest eating cubed halloumi diced and tossed into salads, stuffed into pita with vegetables, or, lately, with watermelon and toasted pine nuts. And that’s okay.  (Feta and watermelon is also popular lately.  To each his own.)  And a variation on the classic salad Caprese (fresh mozzarella layered with ripe red tomatoes and basil leaves, drizzled with your best olive oil) is yummy when made with halloumi, but we like it better with the mozz.  Halloumi improves like 1000% when it’s grilled or fried. You don’t even need to use oil or butter—you can simply brown it in a non-stick skillet.  And, brown it will- a lovely golden tan crust manifests in about three minutes.  Or you can do like Sidqui Effendi advised in his nineteenth-century Turkish cookbook: “Put a portion of cheese in silver paper.  Wrap it up and put it over a fire.  When the paper starts to glow the cheese is ready to eat and deliciously creamy…This is good food that enhances sex for married men.” And I quote.

Where do you go from there?

I have found that sautéing a few big red bell peppers in EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) until they start to caramelize is a good start. Or get them nice and crusty brown and sweet the way you really like them. Use your non-stick skillet or a well seasoned iron frying pan.   Remove the peppers to a plate or simply push to the side of the sauté pan, and then lay in your slices of rinsed and dried halloumi. (Get about eight slices from your half pound piece of the cheese, about half an inch thick.)  Brown them on both sides.  You will notice that the cheese takes on a lovely rosy glow from the pepper-dyed oil. Remove the cheese to a platter.  Add a little chopped garlic and a copious amount of chopped Italian parsley to the peppers and toss around.  Scatter the peppers over the halloumi.  Twist the pepper mill overall.  (Our dear friend and goat cheese maven Laurie Goodhart does this with her exceptional paneer.)  Serve with pita and mixed Greek olives (also rinsed and splashed with EVOO).  Nota bene that you don’t need to dredge the cheese in flour, but you can if you enjoy dredging things.

Or brush the cheese with olive oil and grill over medium heat for two minutes or so on each side. Sprinkle with chopped fresh oregano and the juice of half a lemon, or a whole lemon if you want to…

Apparently they love arugula on Cyprus.  So do we, over here. It follows that arranging your fried or grilled halloumi on a nice bed of that most fragrant of greens, dressing it with a nice EVOO and good wine vinegar and then twisting on a little pepper is not only traditional but also sensational.  And what could be easier? 

Make kebabs with red bell peppers, onions, bay leaves (soak them in warm water) and halloumi cut into cubes. Serve the kebabs over a bed of our produce department’s exceptional mesclun, dressed simply with EVOO and lemon juice.  Serve with pita and additional lemon wedges, but I didn’t have to tell you that.

I made a pseudo Halloumi ‘Grenobloise’ last weekend and got raves.  Fry your halloumi as usual and remove to a serving platter.  To the same pan, over high heat, add a splash of EVOO, the juice of a lemon, two tablespoons of drained and rinsed capers (any size you want, though I didn’t try it with caperberries) and a tablespoon each dried mint and flat leaf parsley. Heat until it sizzles and pour over the cheese.   I served this with tomato wedges, Kalamatas and some cold rice salad. We carry a good quality cilantro chutney that works well with halloumi, too.

So there you have it: a nice concentrated source of protein that is ready in minutes and is versatile, forgiving and very delicious. (Did I forget to mention that our Halloumi is made with vegetarian rennet?…. or that it sort of squeaks on your teeth as you chew?)  As I stated, Halloumi will be on sale for the month of June, and if it stops raining you might get into grilling it out in the breezy early evenings of summer.  We hope that the seas and skies of the Levant are peaceful tonight, and that your world is, too.