Delicious and super versatile, this Warm Lamb and Halloumi Rice Salad works brilliantly as a midweek supper, an impressive dinner party main or even as a dish to take to a buffet or pot luck. It also makes great leftovers to eat for lunch the next day!
One of the things I love about lamb is how flexible and versatile it is – yeah sure it’s fabulous as a Sunday roast (with or without mint sauce), but it goes so well with so many other flavours: garlic and rosemary go wonderfully – for example my Leftover Lamb Ragu. But it’s also great with robust Mexican flavours, such as chillies, cumin and smoked paprika – for example my Spicy Mexican Lamb Stew. And of course lamb is utterly brilliant as a curry, with wonderful Indian spices – if you love lamb curry then you have to check out my 7 Easy Peasy Lamb Curry Recipes.
But one of my favourite combinations is lamb and harissa. It’s like a match made in heaven and when you add halloumi, butternut squash, fresh mint and pomegranate seeds into the mix, you know you are onto a real winner!
Imagine warm wild rice topped with griddled lamb delicately but deliciously flavoured with harissa, and all beautifully offset by the sweetness of roasted butternut squash, the squeaky saltiness of halloumi, the tang of pomegranate seeds and the freshness of mint leaves. This is the food of dreams (well my dreams at least!) and yet it can be made in just 40 minutes – making it doable even on a busy weeknight.
But this Warm Lamb and Halloumi Rice Salad also looks super pretty and would be a really impressive main course for a North African or Middle Eastern themed dinner party or for taking to the kind of party where you are asked to bring a dish – potlucks, buffets etc.
And of course if you have leftovers it’s perfect the next day as lunch! It’s delicious cold, or heat it up until it’s piping hot.
You can use any rice you like in this Warm Lamb and Halloumi Rice Salad: white / brown / red / wild, whatever you fancy or have in the cupboards. But my favourite for this salad is a combination of white and wild rice – I can buy this ready mixed from the supermarket, but if you can’t get hold of it, you can mix your own. The mix I use is 88% white long grain rice to 12% black wild rice – it’s a great combination of textures and flavours and perfect in this salad.
For the roasted vegetable element I have used a combination of butternut squash, aubergine and red pepper – these vegetables are beautiful roasted and go so well with the flavours in this dish, but you can use whatever vegetables you prefer – you need about a kilo of veg in total (just over 2lbs).
If you don’t like the idea of deseeding a pomegranate, look out for the little pots of ready to eat pomegranate seeds in your local supermarket – they are perfect for this kind of recipe.
For this Warm Lamb and Halloumi Rice Salad recipe I have chosen a mild harissa, as I was serving it to my kids and they wouldn’t have thanked me for choosing a hot one! However if you like your food spicy, you can use a hotter harissa – just take care as some harissas can blow your head off – I always taste first if I am using a new brand!!
My perfect wine match for this dish would be a spicy, but juicy red wine made with grape varieties such as Grenache, Syrah or Tempranillo.
Warm Lamb and Halloumi Rice Salad
Ingredients
Warm Lamb and Halloumi Rice Salad
- 300 g lamb leg steaks (roughly 2 steaks)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 500 g butternut squash peeled and cubed
- 300 g aubergine cubed
- 1 red pepper cut into bitesize pieces
- 300 g rice (I use a mix of white long grain and black wild rice)
- 200 g halloumi cut into bitesize pieces
- 100 g pomegranate seeds (roughly half a medium pomegranate)
- 4 tablespoons fresh mint leaves roughly chopped or torn
Harissa Marinade
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 lemon juice only
- 4 teaspoons mild harissa (or hot harissa if you like things spicy!)
- 2 tablespoons runny honey
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 220C/200C fan/gas mark 7/425 F.
- Mix together all your marinade ingredients, except the honey. Add the lamb to the marinade and coat well. Leave to marinate for 10 minutes (or longer if you have the time).
- Place the chopped butternut squash, aubergine and red pepper on a large baking tray and drizzle with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and sprinkle over a little salt and pepper. Toss to coat the vegetables evenly in the oil. Roast in your preheated oven for 15 minutes or until softened and just starting to go brown.
- Meanwhile cook the rice according to packet instructions or your own preferences. Keep warm until needed.
- Heat a griddle pan (or non-stick frying pan) over a high heat for 1 minute. Remove the lamb from the marinate, but reserve the marinade for later. Place the lamb steaks on the griddle pan and cook for 1 minute on high on each side, then 2 minutes on a low heat on each side (so 6 minutes in total). This will result in medium cooked lamb. If you prefer your lamb well cooked, cook your lamb for an extra minute on each side.
- When the lamb is cooked, rest for 5-10 minutes, then cut into bitesize pieces.
- Meanwhile add the honey and halloumi to the leftover lamb marinade and toss to coat.
- After the vegetables have roasted for 15 minutes, remove them from the oven. Add the halloumi and then pour over the reserved marinade. Toss everything together and roast for a further 10 minutes.
- To assemble the salad put the rice on a large serving platter, then top with the vegetables and halloumi, followed by the lamb. Drizzle over any remaining marinade from the roasting tray, then finish with the pomegranate seeds and mint.
Notes
This is a collaborative post with the ‘LAMB. Tasty Easy Fun’ campaign. ‘LAMB. Tasty Easy Fun’ is an EU funded campaign which aims to increase the use of lamb in everyday cooking. Lamb is often considered difficult to cook, expensive, or something to be saved for Sunday roasts. The aim of the campaign is to demonstrate just how tasty, easy and fun lamb is to cook with every day of the week!
Want more delicious lamb recipes? Find more here…
Want more Middle Eastern Inspired Recipes? Find more here…
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Corina Blum says
This sounds super delicious and so versatile! I love how you can eat it when it’s freshly made or the next day either hot or cold. Thanks for sharing with #CookOnceEatTwice x
Eb Gargano says
Thanks Corina – it is very delicious and so, so versatile. I love recipes that look impressive enough to serve at a dinner party but are actually really simple to make. And like you I am a BIG fan of anything that can be cooked once and eaten twice (or more!) Eb x
Monika Dabrowski says
How very colourful, and the flavours you used are delicious!
Eb Gargano says
Thank you, Monika! You know me – I love colourful food!! Eb x
jacqui bellefontaine says
oh wow what a lovely dish. I love lamb and harrissa, I love roasted vegetable and a rather like haloumi. All in all I think Im going to love this dish.
Eb Gargano says
Haha – thank Jacqui. Yes you are right…there’s a lot to love about this dish!! 😀 Eb x
nicole says
I love your lamb posts, El. It fills my poultry gap so well and is delicious, to boot!
Eb Gargano says
Thanks Nicole 🙂 I am a huge fan of lamb – it’s so delicious and so versatile. It’s nice to know there are other fans out there too 😀 Eb x
Emma Amoscato says
Ooh I love halloumi but never have thought about putting it with lamb. I’m feeling poorly today and I need you to make this for me! #freefromfridays
Eb Gargano says
It’s so good! The two flavours work together so well…and of course both go so well with harissa!! Sorry to hear you are feeling poorly…I’ll pop some in a jiffy bag, shall I? 😉 Eb x
Kirsty Hijacked By Twins says
Mmm I love a warm salad and this one looks delicious! Thank you for sharing with #CookBlogShare x
Eb Gargano says
Me too – I miss salads over the winter, and a warm salad hits the spot nicely! 😀 Eb x
Mel says
Halloumi, did you say halloumi? Yes please!! This cheese is the stuff that was made to make me happy on a gloomy day! I’d have exactly this recipe, minus the lamb 🙂 Thanks for joining in with #FreeFromFridays.
Eb Gargano says
Haha – I did indeed 😀 Gotta love halloumi…shame you don’t like lamb – but I think this salad would taste great even without the lamb. There are a lot of other lovely flavours going on there. Eb x
Kate - Gluten Free Alchemist says
Halloumi is one of my very favourite cheeses. I could happily grill and eat a whole block in one hit. But that would be greedy (and also quite selfish)…… so I love that you have put it in such a colourful rice salad and complimented it with lots of other amazing flavours! So pretty too xx
Eb Gargano says
Haha – me too. The halloumi I put it my dishes is always ‘taxed’ – cooks perks right? And quality control, of course! Thanks for the lovely comments about my recipe – hard to go wrong with so many delicious flavours! Eb x
Amanda says
Another delicious recipe. I’ve not used pomegranite seeds before but wow they really add something special to this gorgeous salad. Perfect for the hot weather!
Eb Gargano says
Thanks Amanda! I LOVE pomegranate seeds – not only do they add a lovely little pop of flavour – but they also look good in the photos – haha!! So pleased to hear you have enjoyed so many of my recipes, and thank you so much for taking the time to let me know – it means a lot!! Eb 🙂