Who doesn’t love Haloumi cheese?! It’s that squeaky, delicious, golden edged cheese from the Med, that hits its highest peak when fried. Yes, all cheese is good when heated (or most cheese anyway) but Haloumi absolutely cries out for it.
It’s a very salty cheese, which makes it kind of perfect for a non-carnivorous mid-week meal, in my opinion. In Australia, it crops up a lot on breakfast menus as a kind of vegetarian bacon alternative, and trust me, we have no complaints.
Since I published this recipe for Sweet Potato & Chickpea burgers, and it became one of my most popular recipes ever (!), I’ve been meaning to share some more of the easy stuff that I make for dinner throughout the week.
Honestly, both that recipe and this one are so simple to put together, but they’re super crowd pleasing, not too heavy and they feel like very modern recipes. I think that’s why we’re all crying out for this kind of recipe. Meat and two veg isn’t really how we eat anymore is it? I’m okay with that.
The other cool thing about this recipe is that you can do as much or as little hard work as you like. Sometimes I roast my own capsicum over my gas hob, and sometimes I just buy them from the deli. Sometimes I make my own hummus (it’s so freaking easy), and sometimes I pick up a tub of pre-made. In all honesty I pretty much never make my own tapenade, because who can be bothered to pit that many olives, and I never make my own cheese because I’m just not that person – I’m fine with it.
So this is great for a super-simple, ‘grab some bits on the way home’, netflix and chill dinner. Or you can spend a little while making hummus and roasting capsicums on a Friday afternoon after work, if you’re the kind of person who winds down with a little light kitchen activity. It’s a choose-your-own adventure situation, and I love that. Flexibility is key in my life.
So, to recap what we’ve got here, this is a soft white bun (use whatever you like) topped with hummus and olive tapenade, a slab or two of squeaky-soft haloumi, slices of roasted capsicum and a plume of peppery rocket.
It’s the Med in a mouthful (sorry, I just love saying ‘the Med’). An ice cold beer is a pretty solid accompaniment, although I more often tend towards just a soda water with a crapton of lemon slices in it these days. Anyway, however you like to enjoy your dinner, I hope you try this bad boy – totally delicious, totally easy! And if you do, let me know about it on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter!
xx Sarah.
- ½ cup hummus
- 2 tbsp olive tapenade
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 180g (6oz) haloumi cheese
- 2 white buns
- 2 slices roasted capsicum (bell peppers)
- 2 small handfuls of rocket
- squeeze of lemon
- Place the hummus into a bowl and swirl through the olive tapenade - if the tapenade is very thick, you can thin it out with a bit of olive oil.
- Heat the olive oil in a large non-stick frying pan over a medium-high heat.
- Slice the haloumi into ¼ inch or ½ cm thick pieces.
- Once the oil is hot, cook the haloumi for a few minutes on each side, or until shot with golden brown.
- To assemble a burger, split the buns in two, and spread the bottom slices with most of the hummus-tapenade sauce.
- Layer over half the haloumi, top with half the capsicum, half the rocket, a squeeze of lemon, and finally the top buns, smeared with any remaining sauce.
- EAT!
These look amazing. Haloumi is one of my absolute favorites and since my other half has turned vegetarian I’m always on the look out for a quick and easy meal.
Katie xoxo
Roasted bell pepper <3 I love this combo, I recently bought some spicypaprica hummus and I think it would go perfect with this.
As a brisbanite I’d just like to ask where you got those amazing looking rolls?!
LOL – coles bakery, yo! ~So fancy~ xxSarah
The combination of ingredients sounds great! These burgers must be delicious!
So, I’m super embarrassed to admit I have never before encountered haloumi in my life (at least to my knowledge)! However, I will definitely need to try it soon, because these burgers sound absolutely incredible and ridiculously mouthwatering. Thanks for sharing such an awesome recipe! :)
Ha – don’t be embarrassed! I wondered about that when I was writing the post. But if you can get your hands on some, I bet you love it!
xxSarah
I love this sort of dinner inspiration–fried haloumi burgers sound like they deserve a spot on my dinner list this week! Simple but delicious.