Grilled halloumi salad

I was inspired to make this recipe after interviewing Australian cookbook doyenne Donna Hay, whose latest offering, No Time to Cook is the best cookbook I've come across in ages. All of the recipes are fast and fresh-looking, and most include just a handful of easily-obtained ingredients. In other words, my kind of cookin'. 

During the recent long weekend we suddenly found ourselves with a cottage full of guests looking for a midday refuel, so I hit the kitchen and threw together a few family-sized salads, including this one, which uses halloumi cheese. I had never cooked with halloumi before, but Donna loves it and any culinary friend of Donna's is a friend of mine. It's a firm but pliable, salty and rubbery cheese that can handle the heat of a grill without melting away. Seemingly exotic, it was available in Beaverton (aka Small Town Ontario) so there are no excuses for not trying what I'm confident will be one of my new go-to summertime staples. 

Here's now to make it: For enough to serve six as a starter, slice up one package of halloumi, thickly slice several large zucchini on the bias, cut several tomatoes into wedges, drain and rinse a can of chickpeas, and stem and chop some parsley and mint. 

Heat up the barbecue or a grill pan and cook zucchini slices until tender. Then grill sliced halloumi until warm and giving. 

Load ingredients onto a serving platter and artfully arrange in a haphazard manner. Top with a few squirts of lemon and a sprinkling of good salt and pepper. Then, you can either serve with a side of lemon vinaigrette, or do what I've done here, and mix together some yoghurt and sour cream with more chopped mint and a squeeze of lemon plus salt and pepper to taste.