`Pan-Seared Halloumi with Fig Jam and Olive Oil - Olive Oil Times
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Pan-Seared Halloumi with Fig Jam and Olive Oil

This classic mediterranean grilling cheese is a great option for a light appetizer for your next dinner party. Halloumi is best served with both sweet and savory toppings and pairs perfectly with fig jam and kalamata olives.
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By Paul Kostandin
Jul. 30, 2021 12:18 UTC

Halloumi is the orig­i­nal grilling cheese. Originally from Cypriot and made from sheep or goats milk, hal­loumi is a firm, hard-pressed cheese that is able to be grilled or seared directly on a grill or in a pan. With a firm, chewy tex­ture and a rich caramelized fla­vor from the grilling process Halloumi is an amaz­ing snack or mezze appe­tizer.

Thanks to the rich, but the neu­tral fla­vor of Halloumi cheese you can really use it as a palate for so many dif­fer­ent fla­vor com­bi­na­tions. I like to serve my hal­loumi with sweet and savory ingre­di­ents that keep me com­ing back bite after bite. Ingredients like jams, jel­lies, syrups, and oils allow you to cre­ate a dip­pable, din­ing expe­ri­ence that will have your friends and fam­ily think­ing you’ve gone into cook­ing pro­fes­sion­ally.

When it comes to cook­ing hal­loumi, you’ll want to make sure you have a nice clean saute pan and olive oil that can han­dle higher tem­per­a­tures to prop­erly sear the cheese. Personally, I find it eas­ier to use a non­stick pan for the cook­ing process as it helps keep clean up to a min­i­mum and pre­vents stick­ing which can be really frus­trat­ing.

For the final dressing/garnish go ahead and use lighter fruitier extra vir­gin olive oil that will allow all the deli­cious fla­vors to shine through with­out over­pow­er­ing the dish. I like to use fig jam for the plat­ing of this recipe, but you can use what­ever pre­server or jam you have on hand, the pome­gran­ate molasses adds a tart sweet­ness that helps liven up the palate as you enjoy the rich, salty hal­loumi. If you can’t find pome­gran­ate molasses you can use a bal­samic reduc­tion instead for much the same effect! Feel free to exper­i­ment with the sea­son­ings and top­pings as you become more com­fort­able cook­ing and work­ing with hal­loumi.

panseared-halloumi-with-fig-jam-and-olive-oil-olive-oil-times-panseared-halloumi-with-fig-jam-and-olive-oil

Pan-Seared Halloumi with Fig Jam and Olive Oil

5from5votes
Course: Appetizers, Snacks, SidesCuisine: MediterraneanDifficulty: Easy
Servings

4

serv­ings
Prep time

10

min­utes
Cooking time

10

min­utes

This clas­sic Mediterranean grilling cheese is a great option for a light appe­tizer for your next din­ner party. Halloumi is best served with both sweet and savory top­pings or accom­pa­ni­ments and pairs per­fectly with the fig jam and kala­mata olives in this recipe!

Ingredients

  • 16 oz pkghal­loumi cheese, sliced into 1/2 inch slices

  • 2tbspextra vir­gin olive oil

  • 2tbspfig jam

  • 1tsppome­gran­ate mol­lasses

  • 6 – 8eakala­mata olives, pits removed

  • 1tsporange zest

  • 4tbspextra vir­gin olive oil

Directions

  • To sear the hal­loumi
  • Heat 2 tbsp of extra vir­gin olive oil in a saute pan over medium/high heat.
  • Once the oil is hot, place the hal­loumi into the pan and allow it to sear on one side before flip­ping the cheese over and allow­ing it to sear on the other side.
  • Once you have seared the hal­loumi on both sides, remove the cheese from the pan and set it aside as you plate the hal­loumi dish.
  • To plate the hal­loumi
  • On a serv­ing plate spread the fig jam over the plate in a large cir­cle.
  • Arrange the seared hal­loumi cheese on the plate on top of the fig jam.
  • Drizzle the hal­loumi with olive oil and pome­gran­ate molasses.
  • Sprinkle the orange zest over the hal­loumi and arrange the olives around the plate.
  • Enjoy!

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