Crawfish Cous-Cous with Halloumi

The warm weather is really making me crave fresh food right now - nice cooling things but still hearty enough to satisfy. I love making salads with cous-cous, bulgur wheat or quinoa, as you longtime readers probably already know. Here's one that I made a few days ago, with crawfish tails and halloumi cheese.

Halloumi is a wonderful little cheese from Cyprus that can be fried without melting - it's delicious and has a delightful texture. (I think Nigella Lawson described it as edible styrofoam - she's spot on, but in a good way.) Crawfish is much beloved in Sweden, and you can buy tails in brine in any food store. However, if you're somewhere where they're harder to come by, I'd substitute shrimp.

I used edamame in this recipe, which was just delicious - but feel free to substitute broad beans or even green peas.

Crawfish Cous-Cous with Halloumi
Serves 3

200 ml cous-cous (about 0,8 cups)
250 ml water (1 cup)
olive oil
200 g crawfish tails or shrimp (cooked)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
250 g halloumi cheese
neutral oil for frying
a handful of fresh or frozen edamame (soy) beans, podded
1/2 cucumber, diced
pickled red onion (mix thinly sliced red onion with a pinch of sugar, some salt and white wine vinegar, or follow this recipe) and a tablespoon of vinegar from the onions

Put the cous-cous in a bowl. Bring the water to a boil, add a small splash of olive oil and pour this onto the cous-cous. Cover with plastic foil and leave it for five minutes as you prepare everything else.

Cube the halloumi, and fry in the neutral oil on medium-high heat. As it colors, add the crawfish tails and the minced garlic, and fry for a minute or two.

Combine everything on a large plate or in a pretty bowl, and eat at room temperature, or cold. Leftovers make a great lunch.

Recipe in Swedish:
Cous-cous med kräftstjärtar och halloumi