smashed cucumber, peach & halloumi salad

The festival season is doing its yearly damage so the crave for vegetables was heckn real. Also: the beer flow is draining the cash tank so cheapo, veggo, quicko ànd goodo. There’s fruit in this salad as well, which is not often my idea of a good time (like, you know, pineapple on pizza fer fudge’s sake) but trust me on adding this white peach to the mix.

ingredients

Serves two:

• 1 very firm cucumber

• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 0,5 red chili, chopped
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
• 0,5 teaspoon sesame oil
• 0,5 tablespoon honey
• 150 g cherry tomatoes, quartered
• 1 large very firm white saturn peach (about 150 g)
• Halloumi (about ten good slices)

method

Crush the cucumber on a flat and sturdy surface by banging it with a pan or pressing down on it with the flat side of a knife (check this serious eats method). Cut the cucumber in half lengthwise and then diagonally in large pieces. Transfer to a colander, sprinkle with salt and leave to drain about ten minutes. In a bowl, combine half a chopped red chili, one chopped clove of garlic, rice vinegar, sesame oil and honey.

Add your cucumber to the mix together with the quartered cherry tomatoes and thinly sliced white peach. Distribute this onto two plates and sprinkle with some of the vinaigrette. Grill the slices of halloumi (or local Berloumi, if you live in Belgium) on medium to high heat until crunchy. Add to the salad on your plates and sprinkle with more vinaigrette.

Smashed cucumber, peach and halloumi salad