Endive salad with nectarines, seeds and haloumi

I am not sure how the temperatures are in the rest of Europe but here in Holland it has reached rather high numbers. Yesterday was the worst with 37°C  (98°F) and while today is a little less hot; it’s still in it’s thirties… Not even Italy was that hot! And the problem here is that it tends to get really humid and sticky. Dry heat is easier to cope with I think..

Since I got back it’s been really crazy with work, so this is the first day I get to actually do nothing and cook something! Or maybe cooking is not the right term when it comes to a salad, but it’s definitely the perfect thing to eat on a hot weekend summer day. Tonight it’s gonna be BBQ time and I seriously hope that the weather gets a little cooler. But then again; at least the sun is shining right? So no more complaining!

I didn’t even tell you yet that I have won an award for my wedding photography! It’s the Weddingphoto Award 2010 which is held every year. There were 5 categories and I won in the free category with the below photo. As it turns out I am also the only female photographer that won… Not that that makes any difference; I just thought it was funny. And no dad, I did not win 10.000 euro (sort of the first thing he asked when I told them I had won!) but it’s good publicity and ultimately that is what counts right?

It was also the first time I have ever entered in any contest since I’ve become a photographer and maybe I should do it more often as it’s definitely good exposure. I am just always one of those people that only notice a contest after it’s already closed..lol… Guess it won’t hurt to keep up more with what is going on!

I’ve got some interesting projects going on that hopefully will be successful….

But on to my salad of this afternoon….

I had bought the endive yesterday and with the temperatures right now it was already wilted before I got home. But 15 minutes in an icewater bath did miracles and revived the vegetables completely. The original recipe comes from Delicious magazine and was with goatcheese. I didn’t have goatcheese at hand, but I did have some haloumi left in the fridge that I wanted to use and thought would work perfect with the nectarines and the endive. And it did… Lovely combination! The dressing was made of some sjalot, garlic, white balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Add salt if you want but really the salt in the haloumi is enough for the entire salad.

Here is the adapted recipe! (original Delicious Magazine July 2010)

ENDIVE SALAD WITH NECTARINE, SEEDS AND HALOUMI (starter or lunchdish for 4p)

Small bunch of endive

1 clove of garlic

2 sjalots

100 ml extra virgin olive oil

4 tbsp of white balsamic vinegar (you can use white wine vinegar or apple vinegar)

2 ripe nectarines, washed

75 gr pumkin or other seeds

couple of tbsp of oil (for frying the haloumi)

150 gr haloumi, cut into cubes

Cut the endive into small strips of about 2 cm en leave them in icewater for about 15 minutes. Dry with a saladspinner.

In the meantime fry the garlic and onion in oil until they are supersoft. Put them into a bowl and add the balsamic.

Cut the nectarines (leave the peel on) around the pit into small parts. Roast the pumkin seeds in a tbsp of oil and fry the cubes of haloumi. Ones golden brown take them out of the pan and put on kitchenpaper to remove most of the fat.

Mix the endive in a salad bowl with the dressing and add pepper and salt if you want to.

Divide across plate and put the nectarine and haloumi on top and sprinkle with the seeds to finish.