Charred vegetable salsa, roast tomatoes and halloumi
Serves: 4 to 6
150g heritage tomatoes (you can use red if you would prefer)
1 garlic bulb
1 large red pepper, whole
1 red onion, cut into rings about 1.5cm thick, kept unseparated
1 long red chilli
15g basil, stalks included, small leaves picked off and saved
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
225g pack halloumi
Squeeze of lemon (optional)
Sea salt (optional)
Cut large tomatoes into quarters and leave the small ones whole.
● Use a grill pan to roast the tomatoes, garlic, pepper, onion and chilli until they are charred. Leave the garlic whole – this recipe only needs a couple of cloves, but roasted garlic can be used in many other dishes and kept wrapped in foil in the fridge.
Once everything is blackened, remove from the heat and cut the pepper in half lengthways. Using a spoon, remove the pith and seeds. For a milder sauce, remove the pith and seeds from the chilli, too. If you like it spicy, just cut off the top green stem.
● Place the pepper, onion, chilli and basil with two garlic cloves from the bulb into a food processor with
1 tablespoon of extravirgin olive oil and blitz (one quick blitz is sufficient). Alternatively, finely dice them.
Chop the halloumi into chunks and fry in a pan with the remaining oil until golden and crispy.
Put charred vegetable salsa on a plate. Place the halloumi on top and spoon over the roasted tomatoes. Sprinkle with baby basil leaves. Add lemon and salt if desired.