A quick and easy dish that is as delightful to the palate as it is to the eyes, this Fried Halloumi Cheese and Pears, Spiced Dates with Blueberries is a special one for all the cheese fanatics out there. Paired with a sweet and spicy date and blueberry sauce, along with tender cooked pears, this fried halloumi cheese dish is the perfect balance of sweet and savory flavor.
The Perfect Dessert, Starter, or Side in Just 20 Minutes
This fried cheese dish can be anything you want it to be really- a sweet and savory dessert, an interesting side dish, or even a tantalizing starter to get the tastebuds excited! What’s more, for such a sophisticated dish, it only takes 20 minutes to make!
A Perfect Pairing
Fruit and cheese are known to go so well together, and if you have had any cheeseboards in your time, you will know that pears are a popular pairing choice for cheese, especially for halloumi cheese. Halloumi cheese has a naturally mild and briny flavor. It is the perfect combination of a hard cheese with a smooth and slightly creamy inside. It is for this reason that a sweet sauce would complement it so perfectly. The date and blueberry sauce offers a sweet, toffee flavor with some notes of coriander and black pepper, and warm spices such as cardamom and cumin.
Get fancy and make this Fried Halloumi Cheese and Pears, Spiced Dates with Blueberries dish for a Sunday brunch when you are out of ideas for new and exciting dishes. It is sure to keep your guests happy with every morsel!
Fried Halloumi Cheese and Pears, Spiced Dates with Blueberries Inbox
Ingredients
- zest and juice of 2 lemons
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- ¾ tsp ground cardamom (only the black seeds from within the green pod)
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 250 g dates, cut in half, and pits removed
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- halloumi cheese cut into 8 slices
- 2 pears, quartered, de-seeded, and sliced into 8 pieces
- 100 g blueberries
- 100 ml mixed berry juice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- In a small sauté pan, big enough to hold the dates, mix the lemon juice, lemon zest, and brown sugar and cook over medium heat, keep on stirring, until the brown sugar melts. Add the spices and dates and cook until the dates soften a little, add the blueberries and cook for about 5 minutes. Stir in 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and 100g mixed berry juice and set the mixture aside,
- Heat a large nonstick pan over medium-high heat. Arrange the cheese slice in the skillet, being careful not to overlap or crowd them. Brown the cheese, about 2 minutes on each side, or until golden brown on each side. Place the halloume side by side in a baking oven dish,
- Using the same sauté pan, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil on medium-high heat and then add the pears. Brown the pears for 4 to 5 minutes on one side, you can add a tablespoon of butter, it just makes them more yummier and soft. Remove the pears from the pan and add them to the baking dish n with the halloumi. Spoon a date and some of the sauce onto each piece of halloumi and place the pan in the oven until it gets hot and the cheese gets a little softer. 6 to 8 minutes.
- Remove the pan from the oven, place it on the table, and without waiting serve with remaining sauce.