This watermelon sandwich is an incredibly delicious and unique culinary delight of summer. With Halloumi cheese and Kalamata olives, this sweet, salty and refreshing recipe can be a main course or cut into small pieces for a knockout appetizer. *Serves about 2 as a main course, 4 as a side, and about 8 as an appetizer (The servings might vary depending on how thick or think the watermelon and cheese slices are.)
1miniseedless watermelon (you will only need about 1 pound of it)
½cuppacked fresh mint leaves, plus a couple of sprigs for garnish, washed and dried
2tablespoonsolive oil plus a bit for the pan
a few turns freshly ground black pepper
Kalamata olives, pitted and halved (optional)
thin tomato slices(optional)
Instructions
Prep the Halloumi. Place the block of cheese on a paper towel and wrap it around it to pat it dry. Then cut it into 4 to 6 approximately ¼-inch slices, horizontally parallel to the top of the cheese. Now place the slices on another paper towel and pat them dry.
Sauté the Halloumi. Heat a large non-stick skillet (about 12-inch), thinly coated with olive oil, over high heat. Once it's very hot, place the Halloumi slices in the pan. If you don’t hear a sizzling sound, it's not hot enough yet. Wait until it is. Cook on high for the first minute, and then reduce the heat to low-medium. Sauté until the bottoms are golden, about 2 minutes. Then flip them and brown the other side. This should only take a couple of minutes. Remove them from the pan and place them on a large plate to cool.
Prep the watermelon. Before you work with the watermelon, clean the skin with a damp paper towel.Use a Chef's knife to cut a flat surface on each side of the watermelon, so it's more or less a square/rectangle. Stand it on one of its bases and cut about 10 approximately ¼ to ½-inch slices. Then trim any bits of skin off, and to get them about the size of the cheese slices. (Save scraps to eat!) Set aside on a plate or cutting board.(You will need twice as many watermelon slices as cheese slices. This could vary, depending on how think or thin the cheese is sliced.)
Prep the mint. Finely chop the mint, add it to a small bowl and mix it with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and a few turns of freshly ground black pepper. Set aside.
Assembly
Line a sheet pan with parchment paper and place the watermelon slices on top, being sure they're relatively evenly-sized, and more or less are the same size as the cheese slices.
Spread about half of the mint mixture, divided evenly, on the top surfaces of the watermelon slices.
Place a piece of cooled fried Halloumi on half of the slices, and spread each one with some of the remaining mint mixture.
Add tomato slices, Kalamata olives, both, anything else you might want to try, or nothing.
Close the sandwich, and place a toothpick through the top of each one with a mint leaf and serve.
Notes
Nutritional information is automatically calculated, so it should only be used as an estimate.