Roasted Beet Salad with Grilled Halloumi Cheese
The food challenge of Passover is not the seder. It’s the seven days that come after.After all, you know what to make on seder. Torah and tradition are right there by your side, cooking: matzo, charoset, chicken or brisket, kugel if you’re Askenazi, something people actually like if you’re Sephardic. It’s all preordained. God is your sous chef.
Ingredients
- 3 baby red beets
- 3 baby gold beets
- 3 baby striped beets
- 1 block halloumi cheese
- 1/2 cup greek yogurt
- 1 tbsp dried mint
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup sherry vinegar
- 1 tsp sea salt
Instructions
- Trim the beets of their leaves and stems. Place each type of beet in a separate foil packet with 1 tbsp EVOO, 1 tsp sherry vinegar, and some salt. Place the three packets on a roasting pan and roast at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until tender.
- Remove beets from oven and allow to cool. Using a dish towel, rub the beets to remove the skin and discard the skin. (Please use a towel you don’t care about – the beet juice WILL stain it.) Cut the beets in halves and marinate in a quarter cup of EVOO and 2 tbsp sherry vinegar.
- Cut the halloumi into cubes and fry in a pan with oil until golden. Mix the yogurt with the lemon juice, dried mint, salt, and a quarter cup of EVOO.
- To dress, place the marinated beets in a bowl, and garnish with the yogurt dressing and fried halloumi.
Notes
I’ll start with the last recipe, for Chef Micah Wexler’s Roasted Beet Salad with Grilled Haloumi Cheese. Micah is the chef/co-owner of Mezze on La Cienega Blvd., and many of his Levant-inspired dishes are Passover friendly. This one uses garbanzo beans in the original—boiled and fried, if I remember correctly. But you can leave them out. If you’re Ashkenazic.
Here’s what’s on my non-seder Passover menu the rest of the week:
Cod Gratinée with an Artichoke Mousse “Café de l’Academia” in Barcelona
Lemon and Olive Oil-Roasted Artichoke “da Toni” Venice
Sole with celery puree and roasted cherry tomatoes “Arcana” Barcelona
Sweet Potato and Soft Goat Cheese Gratin with Spring Herb Salad “Struisvogel” Amsterdam
Seared Trout with Berber Spice and Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette (okay, this one is mine)
Asparagus Milanese “Biffi” Milan
Padron Peppers “Santa Catalina” Barcelona
Cauliflower, Courgette, Mint and Ticklemore “Great Queen Street” London
Potato Cake, Bell Onion, Romesco and Fried Egg “Great Queen Street” London
Grilled Fillet of Sea Bass with sauce antiboise “Struisvogel” Struisvogel
Roasted Beet Salad with Grilled Halloumi Cheese, “Mezze” Beverly Hills
