Grilled Halloumi with Za'atar

This is now my fourth post about eating meals based in foods bought at the Greenmarket while on a budget. The point of these is not that you would copy my recipes exactly, but that you get a sense of how easy it is to put something local together for an inexpensive meal.

I often buy my yogurt from Patches of Star Farm at the Union Square market. They sell a variety of goat milk yogurt and cheese products, but I usually just stick to the yogurt. I once bought their low-salt chêvre, which is an excellent creamy cheese for sandwiches, for my local New York cheese tasting. They have always sold Halloumi cheese, a Cypriot grilling cheese with a unique flavor and strangely delightful rubbery texture, but for some reason I had never bought it. And I love Halloumi cheese. It is up there in my top 5 for sure. Well, for some random reason that only God knows, the other day I picked up a $5 pack of the Halloumi. A small price to pay for a slice of bliss, I thought. I did not quite know what I was going to do with it, besides the usual flambé with brandy and lemon juice, so it sat in my fridge for a good 2 weeks.

Yesterday I realized that I had a bunch of dandelion greens in my fridge, and that I would just eat the Halloumi with the greens. I prefer my greens steamed over sautéed (always), so I just tossed them with some lemon juice and olive oil. I sliced the rubbery Halloumi and grilled it in a pan until it got the little marks on it (totally unnecessary but visually satisfying). I then topped it with my favorite spice blend, za’atar. I have industrial quantities of za’atar from when I went a little crazy ordering from a Lebanese food company, not realizing that 1 kilo goes a very long way. Oh well, this was the perfect moment to mix it with some olive and flax oil and drizzle it atop the cheese. And that was it. Steamed Dandelion Greens with Za’atar and Halloumi. Dandelion greens are very bitter, which might be considered an acquired taste, but it is also a seasonal taste for Spring. What is good about the cheese is that it is mellow and almost sweet, which counters the bitter greens nicely.

As a treat for myself after, I grilled more of the cheese and topped it with a mixture of lemon and honey, sliced mint, and chopped walnuts.

Anyway, the total cost of my lunch was probably $7 or so. How much do you pay for a salad at Cosi? ? ?