Roasted Cauliflower Salad With Halloumi and Lemon Recipe (2024)

Any advice on searing the halloumi? Mine instantly started melting. I couldn’t leave it on the heat long enough to get the brown shown in the picture. Should I have coated it first with cornstarch or flour or something?

Very fun to make. Great textures, colorful, and put me out of my comfort zone with new ingredients with the halloumi and preserved lemon. A few tips if you choose to make this dish: use less salt and/or fresh lemon instead of preserved because the preserved lemon adds extra salt. Don't skip out on the raisins, avocado, or couscous for a rounded out dish. Helllooo halloumi :p

I find halloumi browns really well in a dry, non-stick pan.

You can easily add the cubed halloumi to the sheet pan with the cauliflower for the last 10-12 minutes of the cauliflowers cooking time! Just coat it in a bit of oil in the same bowl you tossed the cauliflower and spices in (don’t wipe them out). It crisps up perfectly and then there are no extra pans to clean up! For extra credit add torn pita to the halloumi when you toss it with oil and throw it all in the last 10 mins. Sprinkle with Sumac after you take it out of the oven. Delish and easy!

Shocked how well the flavors and textures blended together. Everyone at the table had seconds... we barely made it to the second course! We suggest adding pumpkin seeds for an extra crunch!

I just toss the cubed halloumi in with the cauliflower the last 10-15 minutes of roasting. It browns perfectly and eliminated the need to dirty another pan! Works like a charm.

Delicious! Love this salad. Wonderful flavors I would omit the oil in browning the Halloumi I brown all the time in a non stick skillet dry skillet. It has enough oil and the added oil makes a mess!

This was delicious! Slightly too salty, I suggest half as much salt on the cauliflower when it goes into the oven and then perhaps a little finishing salt at the end if you find it necessary. Otherwise, a big hit in my house. The creamy avocado was such a lovely complement to the flavorful cauliflower and the tangy dressing. I will make this again and again.

Use only half teaspoon of salt and half of pepper on cauliflower.Didn’t use any salt or pepper in dressing per others notes.Didn’t have preserved lemon but used half a lemons worth of lemon juice in the dressing and some zest on salad

This was a delicious salad, full of flavors and textures. I concur with the previous viewer’s advice about the salt, both the preserved lemons and halloumi cheese increase the saltiness of the salad, so hold back a little till the end, and maybe finish it with some Maldon if needed. I ended up using a couple of teaspoons of pomegranate molasses, lemon juice and also increasing the honey a bit to offset the saltiness of the dressing. Turned out great tho!

Best of all, try fried tofu.

Delicious! I listened to the comments and it worked out so well: added half the salt and added toasted pumpkin seeds. Such a great balance of flavors!

Used collard greens from the garden, steamed. Yummy. Was a bit different than it would be with raw arugula and quite tasty.

Super tasty. We used kale, and it was good. We will be making this again.

Excellent dish. Due to poor planning I didn’t have a shallot so I subbed harissa with preserved lemon. Which was excellent. Also subbed cherry tomatoes for avocado. And added pistachios. Family said it was a triumph.

I’d make the cauliflower again on its own. I skipped the salt & pepper on the cauliflower and vinaigrette but the halloumi (rinsed) preserved lemon were still too salty for me. I added pomegranate seeds and appreciated the tart to balance that salt. With leftovers, I subbed spinach in for the arugula and preferred it. This recipe made me realize that I don’t really like arugula, preserved lemon, or even halloumi that much. But I’d give it another try with the same modifications fresh citrus.

A slightly lazy way to tackle the halloumi issue is to just cook it in slices. Once browned on both sides, let it rest on the chopping board a minute and then dice it. Admittedly only two faces will be browned but it saves dealing with the cubes in the pan. I have also used chop sticks to manage the halloumi cubes which works quite well. If your halloumi is melting right away your pan was just too hot.

Made this tonight great flavors! A few things to consider:1. I read all the comments about too much salt. Keep in mind that you can rinse the preserved lemon rind to remove excess salt from the brine. I also removed the pulp and only used the rind.2. Someone suggested adding the halloumi to the sheet pan which I tried. It tasted great but melted, so if you’re concerned about presentation you might want to follow the recipe.3. I subbed dried cranberries for the golden raisins.

Substitute panela cheese

skip salt on cauliflower and in dressing. Preserved lemon in dressing is key. Cut halloumi in cubes and toss in spice combo with cauliflower. Add to cauliflower half way through roasting

I agree with the less salt comments. Don’t add salt to the cauliflower. There’s plenty of salt in the halloumi and preserved lemon and dressing. I’d also add more raisins or even some chopped dates for added sweetness.

Great & very unique salad! We’ve also made it into a delicious grain bowl using farro with slightly wilted arugula.

This salad is more agile than I assumed! I wasn't able to acquire golden raisins but had dried Turkish apricots. I forgot the shallot but very finely minced red onion and just added a smaller amount. I subbed Sherry vinegar for red wine for a softer acidity. The store only had a 50/50 blend of arugula and spinach. I watched all the salt per the recommendations of others... and it was perfection! We served it with the one-pot chicken (and rice) with saffron and turmeric (on this site). DELISH!

A few suggestions- toss in some pomegranate seeds, or even sliced fresh grapes for some tang. Hold off on adding much salt to the cauliflower and vinaigrette, and cut out a Tbsp of the preserved lemon. Go heavier on the greens and add another Tbsp of olive oil and another tsp of vinegar. Sherry vinegar works beautifully.

This was definitely way too salty with halloumi preserved lemon added salt- nearly inedibly so. I roasted the halloumi for 10 min with the cauliflower but it still wasn’t browned, so I broiled it for a bit and that worked.

Loved this. Next time I will mince the preserved lemon. The slices were a bit too much flavor in too few bites.

Cumin seeds