Heavenly halloumi salad with carrot top pesto
This salty, sweet and spiced hot fried halloumi is served alongside a raw carrot salad with a heavenly carrot top pesto. Carrots are a great all rounder British veg and it’s so nice to see them being sold with their gorgeous green tops still intact. These tops, whizzed up with herbs, garlic and almonds, make a lovely pesto or you can fry them up, too, and serve as a side of greens. Enjoy leftover pesto with pasta, on top of grilled fish, or as a dip.
Ingredients
Carrot Top Pesto
1 large handful of carrot tops (from the 4 carrots below)
1 small handful mint leaves 1 large handful coriander leaves and stalks
1 small handful almonds 2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
200ml extra virgin olive oil Juice of 1 lemon
Sea salt and black pepper
Halloumi Salad
6 large carrots, with carrot tops still attached
2 teaspoons ground cumin 1 teaspoon sweet smoked paprika
½ teaspoon chilli flakes 1 tablespoon coconut oil or ghee
250g halloumi, sliced into 8 and then into cubes
1 ½ tablespoons maple syrup Sea salt and black pepper
1 large handful pomegranate seeds
Method
Clean the carrot tops and chop off the tough stems. Place them, along with all the remaining pesto ingredients in a food process or and pulse until combined.Season to taste.
the salad, use a vegetable peeler to peel the carrots into thick long strips or ribbons or you could use a spiralizer if you have one.
Heat a frying pan over a medium heat. the cumin, smoked paprika and chilli flakes for a minute until fragrant, stirring constantly.
Divide the carrot ribbons among the plates, top with the hot fried halloumi,scatter with sea salt and pepper and pomegranate seeds. Drizzle over the pesto and let everyone help themselves.
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