400g halloumi (2 packs)

400g cherry tomatoes

80g (1 cup) black olives (pitted)

2 Shallots

6 garlic cloves

4 tsp capers

2 tsp dried basil

1 tsp black pepper

Oil for frying

White wine

Extra virgin olive oil

Black pepper

Green salad (optional)

Delicious halloumi with Trapani (Sicily) style sauce.

Simple but perfect and mega tasty dish from Trapani, which is located on the west-side of Sicily.

For the tomato sauce

Peel and slice the garlic and the shallots. Wash the tomatoes and then cut half of the tomatoes in quarters and the remaining tomatoes in halves.
Bring a medium skillet to medium-high heat and add the oil. Once the oil reached temperature, add the shallots and fry them for a few minutes before adding the garlic. Stir the garlic into the shallots and then add all the tomato quarters but only half of the tomato halves. Stir and fry for 5 minutes.

Add some white wine to create a smooth sauce. Add the olives, capers, basil, black pepper and mix well. Let the sauce simmer on low heat for 5 minutes before adding the remaining tomatoes to create a bit of added texture to the sauce. Mix well and reduce the heat to low, leaving it ready to serve.

For the halloumi

Drain and slice the halloumi into 1 cm slices.

Bring a griddle to medium-high heat (you could use a frying pan, but a griddle works much better).  When hot, slightly oil the griddle and place the halloumi slices on it. Grill the halloumi for 3 min on each side or once golden brown grill marks appear.

Spoon some of tomato sauce on your plate and then place the halloumi slices on top of it. If you like, add some green salad next to the sauce. Drizzle some extra virgin olive oil over the halloumi and sprinkle some black pepper over, serve and enjoy.