Rainbow salad with haloumi

If you are looking for a salad packed with goodness, and full of delicious and colourful ingredients (and there is a saying that the more colourful your meal, the healthier it is) then this is a salad for you. Topped with crispy-on-the-outside, oozy-on-the-inside haloumi it stands on its own as a vegetarian lunch, or a wonderful accompaniment to some grilled lamb or chicken. The dressing is quite sharp and tangy to contrast with the saltiness of the haloumi and adds zing and a little bit of heat to the whole salad.

Ingredients: (Serves 4-6)

• 120 g mixed salad leaves
• 1 each of medium-sized red, yellow and green capsicums
• 2 carrots
• 1 medium-sized fresh beetroot
• 250 g mixed cherry tomatoes
• 2 cobs fresh corn
• handful fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1 small bunch chives
• 1/3 cup pepitas
• 1/2 cup pecan nuts
• 180 -200 g block of haloumi
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• juice of 1 large lemon
• 2 teaspoons capers
• 1/2 teaspoon chilli flakes
• sea salt and black pepper

Heat oven to 180 C. Place the pepitas and pecans on a baking tray and bake for 10 minutes until they smell toasty and are satisfyingly crunchy. Take out of the oven and set aside to cool. Dice capsicums into 1 cm square pieces. Peel carrots and julienne. Peel beetroot and julienne. Keep the beetroot separate from the other ingredients so its rich purple juice doesn’t stain the other ingredients. Cut the tomatoes into halves. Using a sharp knife cut the kernels off the corn cobs. Roughly chop the parsley and snip the chives. Make the dressing. Place 2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, the lemon juice, capers and chilli flakes in a small glass jar with a lid. Shake well and then season to taste with sea salt and black pepper. When ready to serve, toss all the salad ingredients together and place in a serving dish. Heat a non-stick pan over medium heat and add the remaining olive oil. Cut the haloumi into 8 pieces and pan fry until golden. Place the haloumi on the salad, pour over the dressing and serve immediately.