Halloumi Fries and Watermelon Salad
The last hurrah of summer
Last week, the otherwise kind WCBS-FM DJ Race Taylor posted on social media that August 10 was the last day we’d have sunset after 8 p.m. until next year.
I almost cried.
I always find myself staring down the dwindling days of August with the dread of a 10-year-old boy forced to go shopping for school clothes.
I have a hard time understanding parents who can’t wait until their kids are back in school. Why would you want to give up the freewheeling, giddy breeze of summer? I didn’t expect to get more wistful for summer as I got older, but here I am, thinking about buying a box of Creamsicles. Is it because I’ve become a gardener, and the big show we’ve been planning all year debuts in summer? Is it that I like wearing flip-flops so much?
September will eventually work its magic on me. I’ll go back to my adjunct professoring with a brand-new notebook and a fresh set of dry-erase markers. A cooler kitchen to bake in will mean more cakes and cookie recipes to work on. September still offers tomatoes and fresh corn, and it is when my dahlias put on the display I’ve been planning since January, as they prefer warm days and cool nights.
Unlike my dahlias, though, right now I want to make the most of warm nights, listening to the tree frogs scream their love song of creaky chirps, with the crickets performing back-up. Along with a trip to the beach I’ll try to sneak in, what other way would you expect me to honor the summer than through food? To round out the summer, I created a light meal of crunchy, salty air-fried halloumi cheese with a cumin-lime watermelon salad. It’s perfect for sitting on the patio/beach/screened-in porch safe from the dastardly mosquitos, a crisp, cool rosé in hand, reveling in the present.
Notes:
Make the watermelon salad more of a main course salad by serving it on a bed of arugula, add feta or grilled halloumi, grilled peaches, and olives.
If you can’t find halloumi near you, substitute a low-moisture mozzarella.
Halloumi Fries
Feeds 4
These can be baked in the oven or air fried.
What You’ll Need:
225 grams halloumi cheese
2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
1 ½ cups (180 grams) flour
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon ground sumac (optional)
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 ½ cups (90 grams) panko bread crumbs
Avocado or olive oil spray (optional)
What You’ll Do:
Heat the airfryer to 390°F/200°C or heat the oven to 375°F/190°C. If baking, line a baking sheet with parchment.
Cut the halloumi into bars about 3/4-inch wide, 1/2-inch deep and 3 inches long.
(2 cm wide x 1.25 cm deep x 8 cm long)
Set up your dipping station: Find 3 shallow bowls. In the first one, whisk together the flour, garlic powder, onion powder, sumac, salt and pepper. In the second bowl, beat the eggs with the milk. In the third bowl, pour the breadcrumbs.
Dip the halloumi pieces one by one, first in the flour, being sure to knock off any extra, then into the egg, and then roll the cheese in the breadcrumbs. Repeat until all the halloumi has been coated. Lay the halloumi fries on the air fryer tray or the baking tray. Spray lightly with oil. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until the breadcrumbs are golden brown. These are best eaten warm.
Watermelon Salad
Make this salad 1 or 2 hours before serving. If you make it much earlier than that, the watermelon will release a lot of juice. That’s not bad, just serve with a slotted spoon.
Cumin-Lime Dressing:
What You’ll Need:
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 ½ tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
2 teaspoons maple syrup or honey
1 clove garlic, minced fine or grated
½ teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon kosher salt (¼ teaspoon table salt)
¼ teaspoon fresh ground pepper
What You’ll Do:
Put all the ingredients into a clean jar with a lid. Shake until emulsified and creamy-looking. No jar? Whisk the ingredients together. Taste the dressing to check you like the levels of salt, sweet, and tart.
Watermelon Salad
Feeds 4
What You’ll Need:
About 5 cups cubed seedless watermelon
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
2 tablespoons minced jalapeno
2 tablespoons thinly sliced scallion
2 tablespoons chopped mint leaves
(Optional: 4 cups of baby arugula)
What You’ll Do:
In a large bowl gently toss together the watermelon, cilantro, jalapeno, scallions and mint with the dressing. Refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours. This salad is best served within 8 hours.
Serve the watermelon on a bed of arugula salad, with halloumi fries alongside. If not using halloumi, toss with ⅓ cup chopped feta.
Marissa Rothkopf Bates writes about food for the New York Times, Newsweek (RIP) and Publishers’ Weekly among others. Her newest book, “The Secret Life of Chocolate Chip Cookies,” is available wherever fine books are sold. Find her on Substack here.
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