Halloumi and asparagus salad

The idea around this salad is that it is vaguely greek, hence the absence of garlic or vinegar with the only overt flavouring coming from the lemon juice. The asparagus is cooked on a griddle and the halloumi is seared in a frying pan. It's stupidly easy and quick but comes out looking and tasting rather nice.

To make the base of the salad, line a bowl with a few leaves then sprinkle on top the diced cucumber and halved cherry tomatoes. Squeeze half a lemon over all.

To cook the asparagus, cut off the ropey white shrivelled bits and then cut into 4cm bits put in a bowl and pour a small amount of olive oil on them and mix around so all are thinly coated. Meanwhile, heat the griddle pan to very hot. Then go through a cycle of pouring the asparagus onto the pan, leaving for two minutes, pouring back into the bowl, stirring around a little bit and then putting back in the pan. The idea is that the asparagus pieces get cooked fairly unevenly with plenty of blackened bits here and there and ultimately all cooked through. With one bundle and two minutes each time, probably ten minutes (five cycles) in all. When done, scatter over salad base.

To cook halloumi, heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a non-stick frying pan. Cut the halloumi into 5mm slices and then in half to make 2cm squares. (I'm assuming the standard halloumi shape here - I've never seen anything different.) Sear the cheese by cooking in hot oil for 2 minutes then turn all over with a fish slice and cook the other side the same. Should be nicely golden brown and warm but not burnt or melted. Keep moving so they don't stick and keep separate from each other. Scatter browned cheese pieces over the rest of the salad.

Serve with pitta finished off in a toaster.

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