Grilled Greek manouri cheese with grilled little gem lettuce halves arranged on a bed of harissa-dressed pinto beans: that’s a delightful lunch or dinner.
Greek cheeses, more than feta
If you think ‘Greek cheese’ you’ll obviously think of feta. It’s the best known Greek dairy product, present all over the world and much loved everywhere.
But feta is not by a long shot the only cheese produced in Greece. And although dairy is traditionally sheep and goat’s milk-based, cow’s milk is also a noteworthy cheese material.
Kefalotyri is a hard cheese like halloumi. Graviera is also hard, made with cow’s milk, and melts beautifully. Kopanisti is soft, a little similar to Gorgonzola, and so is manouri – the star of this recipe.
What does manouri taste like?
It is truly gorgeous, and possibly not as popular as feta because it doesn’t have as strong a personality. It’s less salty, softer and generally milder, like a cross between feta and cream cheese.
And it’s just as lovely raw as it is cooked.
Wholesome salad-as-main-course
Whenever I get hold of a new ingredient, manouri cheese in this instance, I try to construct the whole meal around it. So of course you could just bake the cheese and plonk it on top of a green salad but that would leave you wanting, a protein or filler if nothing else.
Beans and nuts always come to my rescue in times like that. Beans are a very good source of protein and they certainly fill you up. Likewise nuts, except they are slightly less ‘dinnery’ in character. But both, with a nice dressing, and a chunk of fresh bread on the side? That’s dinner!
How to make the harissa dressing
Harissa is the Middle Eastern chilli paste, gorgeously fragrant, versatile and not quite as hot as ordinary chilli paste. That’s because apart from Baklouti chillies it also contains roasted milder peppers, garlic, seeds and spices. And rose harissa additionally includes ground rose petals.
Harissa can be used as it is for marinating meat and vegetables, spread over breads or as a condiment to cooked dishes. It also makes a lovely salad dressing, combined with lemon, honey, salt and pepper plus more olive oil. It does stain though so make sure you store the dressing in a non-reactive container.
Best beans in tins
And opening a tin of beans is the easiest way to a filling and delicious meal. But what type of beans?
Let’s be honest: Heinz Baked are probably the most popular. But, even though they have markedly improved their recipe lowering the sugar and salt content, there’s still nearly 10 g of sugar in half a tin and over a gram of salt – over 20% of recommended daily intake.
Above all, you wouldn’t want to ruin such a lovely dish of Greek cheese and salad by drowning it in Mr Heinz’s finest tomato sauce.
You’ll do well to look towards plain beans in tins, with no added sugar or salt.
The variety to go for entirely depends on your preference. I like to put light coloured beans in salads, like cannellini, haricot or butter beans, reserving black, red and kidneys for my chillies and other cooked dishes.
Organic ones are best to go for if they’re not too pricey but those posh jars are really none the better than humble tins.
The only thing to do bar opening the tin is to rinse the beans well with cold water, then shake dry, to get rid of the mushy brine they live in while inside the tin.
How to prepare the salad
After you’ve whisked the dressing ingredients together, the next step is toasting the walnuts. I love them almost burnt: keep them in a dry frying pan over medium heat until you can smell them getting scorched.
The lettuce can be grilled on a griddle or a cast iron or non-stick, large frying pan. Make sure to season the half-heads very well and generously brush the cut sides with olive oil. The point is not to cook the lettuce until it wilts but just to char it lightly so it won’t take longer than a minute or two.
The cheese can be grilled in the same pan, also brushed with olive oil. Likewise, it won’t take long for the outside surfaces to scorch as it’s not about melting the cheese.
Assembly is simple: beans tossed with the dressing are spread over a platter and topped with lettuce halves. Cheese will come next, whole or quartered, and everything sprinkled with crushed walnuts, pomegranate seeds and drizzled with remaining dressing.
More Greek cheese recipes
Whipped feta and hazelnut dip is heavenly spooned on cherry tomato halves. Snacking does not get much healthier than this!
Saganaki is a Greek dish of anything cooked and served in a small skillet, with cheese saganaki the most popular. This recipe for fried saganaki feta is very simple and makes a super tasty snack or appetiser.
Halloumi burgers with grilled haloumi slices, roasted pepper, aubergine and onion. Haloumi slices can be breaded and deep fried but here it’s a healthy option: grill the cheese slices or fry them in a dry pan without extra fat.
More wholesome salad recipes
Couscous with asparagus chunks, toasted pistachio nuts and fresh herbs, it’s a warm salad of perfectly matching ingredients.
Roast chicken with seared halloumi cheese and peach salsa is the perfect warm salad with sweet and spicy combination of flavours.
Spelt and marinated courgette salad, with pine nuts and creamy blue cheese dressing. Much easier to cook than rice, more nutritious than pasta, spelt is the future of salads!