Josh Katz says: “I don’t know anybody who doesn’t like grilled halloumi. There’s something about its salty, rubbery texture, which, when charred over fire, becomes irresistible.”

Serves 4 as a starter

Ingredients

For the pineapple ketchup

150g pineapple flesh, very thinly sliced
75g dried apricots
35g caster sugar
50ml cider vinegar
Juice of ½ lemon
1 red chilli, finely diced

For the fennel salad

1 fennel bulb, thinly sliced or shaved with a mandoline
½ red onion, thinly sliced
Combination of picked dill, mint and flat-leaf parsley leaves
5g chives, sliced into 2.5cm batons
Pinch of sumac
Juice of ½ lemon
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra to serve
Flaked sea salt and ground black pepper

For the grilled halloumi

2 halloumi cheeses (approx. 500g in total)
60ml olive oil

Method

To make the pineapple ketchup, bring the pineapple, apricots, sugar and vinegar to the boil in a heavy-based saucepan over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 12-15 minutes, or until the pineapple is tender and the apricot softened.

Drain the fruits, reserving the cooking liquor in a cup, and transfer to a food processor. Blend the pineapple with the lemon juice and slowly add the reserved cooking liquor until completely smooth, neither too dry, nor too loose, with the consistency of mango chutney. Pass the ketchup through a sieve until smooth, then fold the red chilli through.

For the fennel salad, combine the fennel, red onion and herbs in a bowl. Add the sumac, lemon juice and olive oil, and stir through. The salad should be lightly coated, not wet. Season to taste with salt and pepper and add more lemon juice if needed.

For the grilled halloumi, set a barbecue up for grilling over high heat directly over the burning embers. Alternatively, set a ridged cast-iron skillet over high heat until smoking hot.

The grill needs to be searing hot to prevent the halloumi from sticking. Unwrap the cheese and pat dry with kitchen paper. Slice each block of cheese into 4 pieces, roughly 1cm thick.

Grill the halloumi for 2-3 minutes on both sides, turning 45° halfway through the cooking of both sides to form a crosshatch pattern. Resist the urge to meddle with the cheese too much. It should form a deep char mark that will naturally cause it to unstick itself from the grill when it’s ready to be turned.

Transfer the halloumi to a serving plate, dot each piece of cheese with a dollop of pineapple ketchup and a small handful of the fennel and herb salad, then finish with an overly generous glug of olive oil around the plate.

From Berber & Q: On Vegetables by Josh Katz (£25, Kyle Books), out now

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