Recipe developed and contributed by Maureen Gualtieri
Picnic season may be wishful thinking at this very moment – but at least you’ll be prepared for when it finally arrives! These light sandwiches, stuffed with fresh veggies and sweet-salty halloumi cheese, are equally at home on a blanket in the park as they are at your lunch-hour desk. Grilling the halloumi is simple, with a hearty dollop of DFC’s Maple Root Beer BBQ sauce; Garlic Scape relish brings a hearty, briny crunch to a tzatziki studded with crisp cucumber. They also come together so quickly, you almost don’t have time to get hungry…
Grilled Halloumi Pitas with Garlic Scape Tzatziki
(Yield: 3 – 4 servings, depending on how much cheese you want in your sandwich)
For sandwiches:
1 pkg plain halloumi
approx. 1/ 4 c. DFC’s Maple Root Beer BBQ sauce
2 large pocket pita breads
1 medium tomato
2 large handfuls of fresh baby spinach
For tzatziki:
3/ 4 c. plain Greek yogurt
1/ 2 tsp fresh lemon zest
approx. 3 inches of English cucumber, seeded and diced
1 tbsp DFC’s Garlic Scape relish
fresh black pepper and salt, to taste
Heat your grill or griddle pan on medium heat. In a small bowl, combine the Greek yogurt, lemon zest, diced cucumber, and DFC’s Garlic Scape relish. Taste and season with black pepper and a bit of salt. (Be aware that halloumi is quite salty; you can get away with under-seasoning the tzatziki here.) Rinse and dry the baby spinach, and cut the tomato into a small dice.
Once your grill is hot, brush with a bit of vegetable oil. Slice your halloumi into 12 to 16 rectangular pieces. Place the cheese slices on the grill surface, and cook for a couple minutes, until grill marks are visible. Flip the halloumi, and paint the grilled side with DFC’s Maple Root Beer BBQ sauce. Once the other side is cooked, flip and sauce again. Grill-and-flip one more time, and set grilled halloumi aside on a plate.
Slice the pitas in half, and open the pockets. Spread the sturdier side with two or three generous tablespoons of tzatziki. Layer spinach on top, and nestle in three or four slices of grilled halloumi. Top with chopped tomatoes, and serve right away with chips or a grain salad on the side.
