Spring vegetable and bulgar salad with fried halloumi

Serves 4-6

This is rather a good vegetarian main or starter dish, and can be served as part of a spring or summer buffet. You can add pretty much any spring vegetable you like that's available. I've added some Italian monk's beard, but you could easily use samphire, shredded runner beans and asparagus tips when they are in season.

This is rather a good vegetarian main or starter dish, and can be served as part of a spring or summer buffet. You can add pretty much any spring vegetable you like that's available. I've added some Italian monk's beard, but you could easily use samphire, shredded runner beans and asparagus tips when they are in season.

Halloumi, a sheep's milk cheese originally from Cyprus, seems to be readily available in most delis and supermarkets these days. It's best cooked on a lightly oiled grill, or fried, and although its saltiness makes it an acquired taste, it certainly livens up a salad like this.

100g bulgar wheat
200g shelled weight of broad beans
200g shelled weight of peas
1tsp sugar
4 spring onions, finely chopped
4-5tbsp chopped parsley
Juice of 1 lemon
3-4tbsp olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
200g or 1 packet of halloumi cheese, cut into 1/2cm slices

Cover the bulgar wheat with about 3 times its volume of warm water and leave soaking for about 2 hours until it has softened. Drain.

Cook the broad beans in boiling salted water for about 5-6 minutes until tender then remove with a slotted spoon and refresh in a strainer under cold water. Add the peas to the same water with a teaspoon of sugar and cook for 6-8 minutes or until tender then drain and refresh under cold water.

Mix the peas, broad beans, spring onion and any other vegetables available with the bulgar wheat. Then mix in the parsley, lemon juice and most of the olive oil and season to taste.

Heat a frying pan, preferably non-stick, rub it with a little olive oil and cook the halloumi for about a minute on each side on a medium heat, until lightly coloured. Serve the golden slices of cheese on top of the salad.