Grilled Halloumi Cheese (trust me you should make this)

Ok so I want to start by saying this is not going to be a healthy blog post. There is only one main ingredient to this dish and it's cheese. Super good, salty, nutty, squeaky cheese. You will understand the squeak part when you try it.  I have made this a bunch of times and it is always a huge hit. The cheese is pricy but it's so rich you really only need 1 or maybe 2 slices a person. I normally do this as an appetizer.  This is one of the best things I have ever eaten. You can find Halloumi Cheese in some grocery stores, most specialty stores like Whole Foods but better yet if you have a local Mid East market look for it there, it's normally quite a bit less expensive and you can also grab the Zatar Spice while you are there.

Grilled Halloumi Cheese:

Ingredients:

1 package of Halloumi Cheese
2 Tbsp. of extra virgin olive oil
1/2 Tbsp. of Zatar Spice (a Middle Eastern blend of spices, available in specialty stores or online)
Salt and Pepper

It's super easy to make this dish. Start by cutting the cheese into 8 even slices. Place on a paper towel to absorb any of the liquid coming out of the cheese.

Heat a nonstick pan over medium heat and drizzle 1 Tbsp. of the olive oil in the pan. Add the cheese slices and cook about 1 minute on each side until there is a nice brown crust. Don't burn them, you just want a nice light/medium brown color.

Remove from heat and drizzle with the remaining Tbsp. of olive oil and sprinkle over the Zatar Spice, salt and pepper.  Eat warm or at room temp. Enjoy!

*You can also if you want serve this with sliced tomato to cut the richness of the cheese, it looks very pretty that way and stretches the dish a bit further.