Tomato, Nectarine, Grilled Halloumi Salad

Sep 14

Sep 14 Tomato, Nectarine, Grilled Halloumi Salad

What flavors are imprinted on your palate? There’s a usually a story that is tied to the flavor. The first place you experienced it.

For me it’s Baskin Robbins chocolate peanut butter ice cream. The bittersweet Dutch chocolate ice cream mingling lusciously with chewy slats of salty peanut butter. Every time I have it I recall the exact culinary wonder I had as an 8 year old. It’s chewy salty, but it’s screamy bitter sweet

Vegemite toast, rye or sourdough, salted butter melting under the dark umami blanket. Australia’s greatest culinary contributions, after the flat white and avo toast.

Watermelon and feta salad is juicy and refreshing. The chilled sweet-sweet watermelon lining up against slabs of salty, firm feta cheese tried on a beach in Tel Aviv.

A summertime visit to the Santa Monica Farmer’s Marke in LA inspired a new take on the watermelon-feta concept (sweet, luscious, fruit paired with slabs of white semi-firm cheese).

The Santa Monica Farmer’s Market is a kind of archetype for Farmer’s Market. Not a surprise ,it being LA and all, it overflowing bounty yielded juicy sweet nectarines and summer beefsteak tomatoes that looked like they just rolled off a Hollywood set.

Fresh, crunchy cucumbers added for pleasing crrrrrunch, and perfectly ripe avocados because it’s avocado , and it’s California. The dress is comrpised of fresh mint a and hot sauce, therby having a simu;taneous heating and cooling effect on the tongue. Combine it with all the other vibrant flavors and you got a pop summer hit in your mouth.

Tomato, Nectarine, Grilled Halloumi or Avocado Salad

1/2 inch slices halloumi, grilled or 1 firm-ripe avocado, sliced into 1/2 inch slices
(oiled high heat grill pan)
2 nectarines, sliced
2 beefsteak tomatoes sliced
2-3 Persian cucumbers
1/4 cup mint chiffonade

Whatever chop you choose, be consistent with the above components, for full flavor impact aim to get ingredient on your fork: sweet nectarines, sweet-umami summer tomatoes, crisp cool cakes, salty grilled-marked halloumi slabs.