Cheese salad with hummus dressing and pitta crisps

Joao won’t eat queijo coalho (I know, he’s silly), so after making these there was still half a package of cheese in my fridge. With all the sweets and baked goods around the house, I felt like eating something light and fresh, like a salad. Let’s avoid food waste and waistline expansion!! :)

I slightly adapted this recipe, just adding a bit more flavor to the dressing and omitting the onions. It’s a very easy, simple dish and insanely quick to put together. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Cheese salad with hummus dressing and pitta crisps

2 whole meal pitta breads
2 tomatoes, cut into chunks – I used cherry tomatoes
½ cucumber, cut into chunks
extra virgin olive oil
juice of 1 lime, divided
250g queijo coalho or halloumi, cut into chunks
dried oregano
2 tablespoons hummus (store-bought or homemade; recipe here)
75ml natural yogurt
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF.
To make the pitta crisps, separate the pittas into 2 halves, cut into triangles and bake for 5-10 minutes until crisp. Set aside.

For the salad: toss the tomatoes and cucumber with 1 tablespoon olive oil and the half the lime juice. Sprinkle the cheese with a little oregano then grill or fry until golden. Mix the hummus and yogurt in a small bowl, add a little of the remaining lime juice + a little olive oil (to taste), mix well and season with salt and pepper to make a dressing.
Toss the cheese with the salad, drizzle over the hummus dressing and serve with the pitta crisps.

Serves 2