Haloumis can ve equally overated or under appreciated, but here it works well with the raw courgette, which retains a welcome bit of bite, the lemon and garlic. It think it would be great for a simple dinner tonight, or for lunch tomorrow.
Add a few toasted pine nuts if you fancied a bit of crunch, or some fried breadcrumbs. I almost put basil in this but decided I just wanted the clean, fresh taste of the courgette and lemon. But some sort of soft herb wouldn’t go amiss.
Ingredients
- 2 large courgettes
- 400g linguine
- 1 garlic clove, finely grated
- juice of 1 lemon
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 10g (about a handful) grated parmesan
- approx 100g halloumi
Timings
Prep time: 10 minutes, plus 40 minutes resting
Cook time: 15 minutes
Method
- Top and tail the courgettes, then slice in half (not from root to tip, but through the middle). Using a mandolin or a sharp knife, slice lengthways into long, thin strips.
- When you have a stack of courgette slices, pile them on top of each other and use a sharp knife to slice into matchsticks slightly wider than the linguine.
- Put the courgette in a bowl with 1 tsp salt. Mix well, then transfer to a sieve and suspend the sieve over the bowl. Leave for 40 minutes, by which time a fair bit of water will have dripped into the bowl.
- When the courgette is ready, put some salted water on to boil for the pasta. Cook until al dente or according to the packet instructions, reserving about 50ml of the pasta water.
- Meanwhile, discard the water from the courgette bowl, tip the courgettes into the bowl, add the garlic and lemon, stir and leave to sit while the pasta cooks.
- Put the drained pasta and the reserved cooking water back in the pan over a low heat. Add the olive oil and parmesan and stir vigorously for 1 minute.
- Add the courgettes and keep cooking for 1 minute more, using a wooden spoon or tongs to stir everything together. You want the water, oil and parmesan to thicken slightly and become a sauce which sticks to the strands of linguine.
- Transfer the pasta into warmed serving bowls and evenly cover in halloumi, using the coarse side of the grater.