Is that title too long? I mean I could have listed every ingredient and made it even longer. This is me showing restraint. I’m clearly great at it! This salad is a trans seasonal dream, just like our current Melbourne weather. it’s got some beautiful late winter vegetables mixed with spring goodness and all tied together with that golden haloumi.

And tonnes of fresh lemon zest and juice because I love it with every ingredient in this salad. There’s not really a dressing per se, just a little drizzle of olive oil and the lemon juice at the end but I feel like that’s all it needs. Balsamic reduction or pomegranate molasses could be yummy too if you feel like you really need something to dress it with.

I love salads like this that come together with minimal effort and the fact that it’s warm is ideal at the moment because Melbourne, like usual, can’t quote decide what season we’re in. I’m totally ready for salads but every second day it seems to be returning to pasta bake weather.

The cauliflower and haloumi are the golden stars of this shows, the kale is not roasted until it’s super crisp, you want it to be soft and just crispy at the edges so you get a nice balance of textures.

You may have noticed that I was a little absent last week. I decided to take a week off blogging because things has just got too hectic in life and trying to keep up with anything felt impossible. Plus not having internet at home due to having just moved (part of the hecticness) just makes everything a little bit harder. But some exciting things are in the works with the blog and I have an amazing announcement to make! I’m a BUPA Blog Awards finalist in the Healthy Eating category. There’s a people’s choice award so please click on this link to vote for me! Your support would mean so much:)

But for now back to this delicious salad, full of vegetables and protein it’s the perfect meal by itself. Or have it with grilled or roasted chicken if you have a meat craving. Actually steamed fish would be really good too… The fresh mint and lemon lift everything in this salad and are so good with that haloumi – enjoy!

Serves 2 as a main 4 as a side

Ingredients

1/2 a head of cauliflower broken into bite sized florets (about 4 cups of florets)

5 springs fresh thyme (plus more for serving)

4 cups curly kale, roughly chopped

2x small zucchini, sliced into long ribbons using a vegetable peeler

juice and zest of 2 lemons

1/2 tsp freshly cracked black pepper

pinch of salt

2 Tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for serving

150g haloumi cut into 3 mm thick strips

1/4 cup shredded mint leaves

Directions

Preheat oven to 190 degrees celsius and line a baking tray.

Toss cauliflower in half the olive oil and spread in an even layer on the tray, add thyme. Cook for 45minutes or until golden.

Meanwhile, toss the zucchini with the juice and zest of one lemon, add salt and pepper. Set aside

Massage the remaining olive oil into the kale. Once cauliflower is cooked remove it from the tra and replace with kale. it doesn’t matter if the kale is not in a single layer as you don’t want it completely crispy. Bake for 10 minutes until crisp in parts and softened.

Heat a non stick pan on medium high, add the haloumi and cook for a minute each side until just golden.

Assemble salad in layers on a large serving plat, start with half the zucchini ribbons, add half the cauliflower and kale, half the haloumi, half the mint and a sprinkle of lemon zest, squeeze of juice and little drizzle of olive oil. Repeat with the remaining ingredients finish with extra fresh thyme and a crack of black pepper. Alternatively you can just toss it all together, this just guarantees it will look pretty!.

HH. x