Greek Grain Salad with Halloumi

Made by Maddie from @eastcoasthealth

Grilled halloumi is a game-changer (IYKYK — and now you all do). Golden and crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside, and just salty enough to keep you coming back for more. Here, it tops quinoa, roasted chickpeas, and fresh veggies with a tahini-twist on our Greek Goddess dressing.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 25-30 minutes

Serves: 2

Ingredients

• ½ cup quinoa
• 1-2 tsp olive oil
• 1 cup canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 3 oz halloumi, sliced (about 6 thin slices)
• 3 cups baby spinach
• ½ cup radicchio, thinly sliced (or sub purple cabbage)
• ¼ cup whole pitted olives, sliced 
• ½ cup sliced cucumber 
• ½ cup cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
• ¼ tsp each paprika and dried oregano
• Pinch of chili flakes
• Pinch of salt
• Freshly cracked black pepper

Instructions

1. Cook quinoa according to package instructions. Let sit once cooked with the lid on to keep warm.
2. While quinoa cooks, heat a bit of olive oil in a frying pan over medium. Once warm, add chickpeas and spices (paprika, oregano, chili flakes, salt, and pepper). Cook chickpeas over medium heat for 5-6 minutes or until chickpeas are warmed through and spices are fragrant. 
3. Remove chickpeas from heat and wipe pan with a paper towel if any of the spices remain. 
4. Set pan over medium heat again and prepare to cook the halloumi slices. If your pan is non-stick, you shouldn’t need additional oil for this step (as the halloumi will be ready to flip once it develops a crust on the bottom), but if you are not using a nonstick pan, you may want to prepare the pan with a layer of additional olive oil for this step.
5. Place slices of halloumi onto the heated pan in an even layer. Allow to cook until completely golden brown on one side, about 4 minutes. Flip over and turn off the heat. Allow haloumi to cook in the residual heat from the pan, another 1-2 minutes. 
6. Prep remaining ingredients and assemble. Start with 1 ½ cups of baby spinach leaves in each bowl, followed by half the radicchio or cabbage, olives, cucumber, and cherry tomatoes. Top with halloumi. 
7. Prepare your dressing: combine After Noon Foods’s Greek Goddess Dried Dressing Blend with 5 TB olive oil, 2 TB apple cider vinegar, and 1 TB water. Optional: I love to add 1-2 TB of tahini to the dressing as well for a thicker, creamier texture, or you can leave it as is. Note that if you use a thicker tahini, you may wish to add an additional 1 tsp of water to thin out the texture a bit more.

If you make it, tag @afternoonfoods in any of your creations! For more recipes from Maddie follower her @eastcoasthealth.

Here's to more enjoying, less doing.