Halloumi Cheese from Cyprus...c/o Carrefour!
On our last Carrefour trip, I convinced The Husband to buy us a block of Halloumi cheese. I wanted to use it for pasta and / or a kooky sandwich on our weekly menu at home. The curious foodie me wanted to try cooking with this alien cheese. It will be my first time to cook with Halloumi 
The Husband gave in to my foodie whims and now we have a beautiful block of Halloumi cheese…
Last night, I was already concocting the recipe in my head. In fact, I was already salivating at the thought of it. I was going to do a Halloumi pasta dish with tomato sauce, laban (for added creaminess) and beef salami. I was confident we had all ingredients in our pantry and refrigerator. So I snored away into dreamland, cooking the pasta recipe in my head.
When I woke up for my mise en place, I grabbed all the ingredients. First, I checked the left over tomato paste I used for a beer beef stew dish I made a few weeks back. Again, I was confident the tomato paste was okay since I put it in the refrigerator. But lo and behold, I opened the tupperware and saw a fuzzy friend waving: “Hello!”
The HORROR!
GAAAAAHHHH!!! Now using tomato paste was out of the question. Using Laban also took a back seat. I needed a Plan B. What to do? WHAT TO DO???
To help facilitate the creative recipe process, I proceeded to chopping up all the other pasta ingredients:
10 cloves of garlic, minced
200 grams Italian Beef salami
1 block of Halloumi Cheese, cubed
750 grams of spaghetti
The ingredients seemed very similar to what I use for a traditional carbonara. Why not make a Halloumi carbonara instead? Great idea right? So while I was mixing the pasta, sauteed garlic and salami, Halloumi cheese in the pot, I whisked (with a fork) 3 eggs in a bowl then added the eggs to the Halloumi carbonara mix.
Halloumi Carbonara
Tada! Halloumi Carbonara! Hungry me took a dive into the bowl of Halloumi Carbonara. I wanted to know if my experiment did work.
I was put off because the Halloumi cheese did not end up melting to coat each pasta strand with creamy goodness. I expected this already, but what could I do? I had to roll with the punches.
Look at them Halloumi Cheese clumps
But the beef salami gave the pasta its salty, smoky flavor. I just wish there was more fat on the salami though. It could’ve tasted better. Or maybe I just miss bacon? Hmmm…I wasn’t as happy as I could’ve been if I used the tomato based sauce. This Halloumi carbonara recipe officially fell into my category of the never-to-be-replicated-ever-again recipes. Bow.
Next time, I will store my tomato paste better. Any suggestions how to keep ‘em “fresh” for future use? Or maybe just make my own tomato sauce then. There goes an addition to my list of kitchen experiments! I hope the husband would still be supportive of that future project. Harharhar!
Delirious about delicious,
Didi
P.S. This is my 1st ever recipe post! I’m just so disappointed this is a recipe fail. Howell. All part of the learning
