Seared Peppers with Olives and Halloumi
Servings 2
Ingredients
- 12 or so cherry tomatoes quartered or sixth'd
- 1/2 cup sliced kalamata olives
- 1 large garlic clove minced with a pinch of salt
- 2 tablespoons non-pareil capers rinsed
- balsamic vinegar
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 Italian frying peppers or 2 sweet bell peppers red, orange, or yellow, seeded and cut into rings or 1/2" strips
- 4 slices halloumi about 4 ounces, 1/2" thick
- 1 tablespoon fresh mint chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh flat-leaf parsley chopped
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Place the tomatoes, olives, garlic and capers in a bowl. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and a splash of balsamic vinegar, and fold gently to coat. Set aside.
- Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a skillet over medium heat, until gently shimmering. Add the peppers and saute until soft and seared, about 5 minutes. Move them to the bowl with the tomatoes.
- Turn the heat to medium-high and add the remaining olive oil to the pan. When shimmering, add the cheese slices in a single layer and cook, flipping the slices until both sides are golden (1 to 2 minutes), transferring to serving plates as they finish. Turn off the heat.
- Add the pepper/tomato mixture to the pan and saute for one minute. Spoon over the halloumi slices and sprinkle the herbs, salt and pepper over the top.
Notes
Serving suggestion: this simple dish becomes an entre when you add a slice of crusty fried bread to the works. Fry the bread at the end of preparation. Keep the heat on the pan and, after giving the pepper/tomato mixture its quick saute, add more olive to cover the pan surface, heat to shimmering, and add the bread. Keep an eye on the oil level - when the bread starts to absorb the oil, flip the slice (it will not be golden). Sprinkle a pinch of salt over this side of the bread, and let fry until the bottom is golden. Flip, and salt the up side of the bread. Fry until the other side is golden, then remove to a serving plate. (The bread will have absorbed all of the delicious vegetable juices as it fried.) Place two halloumi slices on top and spoon the pepper/tomato mixture over the whole the plate.