Mark Hix on how to make an amazing watermelon and haloumi soup
I’ve just got back from Kalkan in Turkey where my mate Robin Hutson, the man described by Forbes magazine as “Britain’s most influential hotelier”, introduced me to a wonderful pair of restaurateurs called Uluc and Claire Bilgutay. The Bilgutays own the Korsan Fish Terrace on the sea front and I couldn’t resist going in the kitchen one morning with Uluc to cook up some dishes with him using local ingredients.
You might have noticed that in London all the Turkish supermarkets have big wooden boxes of watermelons at the moment – this is because they are bang in season in Turkey and the Mediterranean countries. Well, with all those melons lying around, I couldn’t resist knocking up a refreshing soup, with some crispy haloumi thrown in for good measure.
As a dedicated hater of wastage, I also pulled out a recipe for candied watermelon skins that I picked up in South Africa years ago. Uluc loved the idea, as he used to feed the skins to his chickens; much better to feed them to paying customers, alongside the local feta cheese.
Iced watermelon soup with crispy Haloumi (serves 4-6)
Ingredients
• 1kg ripe, skinned watermelon
• A few mint leaves
• 60-80g haloumi, cut into rough 1cm pieces
Method
• Cut a third of the melon into 2cm cubes.
• Blend the leftover bits in a liquidiser until smooth then strain through a sieve.
• Put the soup into the freezer for a couple of hours to give it a slushy consistency, or leave in the fridge overnight. Keep the cubes in the fridge, too.
• Heat a frying pan just rubbed with oil and cook the haloumi for a minute on a high heat, turning the pieces so they are evenly coloured then transfer to a plate with some kitchen paper.
• To serve, stir the soup well and spoon into chilled serving bowls. Garnish with the cubes of watermelon, a few pieces of haloumi and the mint leaves.