Grilled Haloumi and Eggplant with Lemon Basil dressing

Grilled haloumi cheese: Don't grill the haloumi for too long as I did! It is so much better slightly gooey on the inside. Should only take a minute each side on a hot grill.

My house is being painted, so I've been lucky enough to be able to move myself and my son, into my Aunties pad, a stone's throw from Takapuna Beach on Auckland's North Shore. I feel like I've been on holiday, every night after dinner, I take Rhys down the beach, there is a swing that someone has hung from an overhanging tree and that is our place every night around 6p.m.

It's been two weeks now, and the painter is not quite finished, and I'm secretly glad, I'm quite happy to hang around here for a bit longer. I can't believe I left it so long to rediscover Takapuna, it really has changed from when I used to hang out here as a teenager, it's quite the place for eating good food and drinking coffee,  (Try Mossimo - specially good for kids, has a playhouse and courtyard, Sal's New York Pizza - the pizza is served on a stand and Aubergine for a good steak).

If only I wasn't pregnant I would have been drinking a cold pint in the sun along Hurstmere Road so instead I keep myself going with a good ole Tip Top ice cream from the local diary at the top of the street.

I made this grilled salad quickly on a hot day, after being at the beach, when I didn't feel like anything heavy, but wanted a salad with substance. It did the trick. Enjoy, Ingrid

This is a great throw together salad for a barbeque

Grilled Haloumi and Eggplant with Lemon Basil dressing

Makes 2 salads as a main or 4 as a side

What you need
1 eggplant (cut into rounds)
Salt
500g haloumi cheese (1cm thick slices )
130g bag of salad greens (or a mix of lettuce and spinach leaves)
1 lemon (juice of)
4 Tbsp Olive oil (and a bit extra for the hot plate or pan)
Small bunch of basil (chopped roughly)
Pepper

The perfect salad for vegetarians, blokes and bbq's. 

How to make
Sprinkle salt on both sides of the eggplant rounds and leave in a colander for 30mins until the salt draws out the water. Make dressing by mixing the juice of one lemon, olive oil and pepper to taste in a bowl and set aside. Pat eggplant rounds dry with paper towel. In a salad bowl add salad greens.

Place eggplant rounds on a bbq hot plate (lightly oiled) or under the grill until they become soft and golden brown. Grill both sides. Place haloumi slices on lightly oiled hotplate or lightly fry in a pan on the stove top and grill for a minute each side until golden. Roughly rip each eggplant round and add to salad bowl. Cut haloumi slices in half and add to bowl. Coat salad with dressing. Add chopped or torn basil, and mix through the bowl. Serve.