*Welsh Lamb and Halloumi Salad with a Whiskey Drizzle

Happy Friday!  A couple of weeks ago Marks and Spencer treated me for St David’s Day and gave me a lovely hamper full of their favourite Welsh products – from meat and cheese, to welshcakes and booze – to enjoy.  And enjoy, I did.  I set myself a little bit of a Ready, Steady Cook challenge and tried to whip up an easy lunch using some of the products in the hamper and whatever I had banging about in my kitchen cupboard, and this is what I came up with!

I’m not the biggest fan of salad – there needs to be a little something-something more than just leaves for me to dive into one – but the halloumi and lamb are the stars here, as well as the sweet whiskey drizzle I whipped up to go on top.  It’s the perfect companion to the salty halloumi.  Very easy to make and a lil’ bit boozy – once you’ve got the base down, you can use it to make any flavour of dressing you like. 🙂

Welsh Lamb and Halloumi Salad with Whiskey Drizzle (serves 2)

Ingredients

• 2 lamb leg steaks*, diced
• 1 block of halloumi, diced
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• spring greens (I used peas, shredded beetroot, spinach, tender leaf salad and spring onions)

For the Drizzle:

• 50ml whiskey (I used “Myth” by Penderyn Distillery*)
• 125ml water
• 1tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1tsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp cornflour
• 100ml runny honey
• 1/2 tbsp of tomato ketchup
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 1/2 white onion, diced
• couple of drops of liquid smoke
• pinch of salt

1. Fry up your garlic, onion and whiskey with a little oil in a frying pan – until the onion browns slightly. Remove from the heat.
2. In a separate saucepan, combine the water, vinegar, cornflour, salt, ketchup, liquid smoke and honey until combined.  Pour in the whiskey, onion and garlic mix and gently heat until the drizzle begins to thicken.
3. Sieve the sauce into a bottle or jug, and set aside to cool.
4. Lightly fry the diced lamb and halloumi with the dried thyme until cooked, then toss with your salad leaves and veg.  Drizzle that shizzle, then scoff. 😉

Thanks to Marks and Spencer for spoiling me once again – all gifted items have been marked with a *.  Have a great weekend! 🙂