Baked halloumi with caramelised onions and tomatoes

Waitrose is running a 25% price reduction for their own Waitrose 1 range at the moment, with a wide selection of foods offered. While checking out what's on offer, I spotted a pack of halloumi with mint which I haven't bought before.
Just the day before I was recycling newspapers and saw a recipe for baked halloumi with tomatoes printed in The Observer magazine. This was one of Nigel's Midweek Dinner recipes.

I have adapted the recipe, if you want to see the original recipe, follow the link above.

Baked halloumi with caramelised onions and tomatoes
Ingredients:
a punnet of mixed baby tomatoes (220g)
1tbsp olive oil
1tbsp balsamic vinegar
1tbsp soy sauce
1tsp maple syrup
1 big red onion, sliced
2tbsp olive oil
1tbsp balsamic vinegar
1tsp maple syrup
1 pack of halloumi (250g)
a few sprigs of fresh thyme

First start by roasting tomatoes. Put tomatoes in a small roast dish and pour olive oil, balsamic vinegar, soy sauce and maple syrup over them. Place the dish in the oven preheated to 180C and cook for about 20 minutes.
I used mixed baby tomatoes, but any colour would do. If you have bigger tomatoes, just halve them and cook the same way.

In the meantime cut a big red onion in half and slice into crescents. Add oil to a medium sized frying pan, and fry the onions on low for about 10-15 minutes, stirring regularly. Add the balsamic vinegar and maple syrup, and a pinch of salt. The onions will turn a lovely dark colour. Once cooked, set aside. Take the tomatoes out of the oven.

Take two square pieces of foil, first layer the caramelised onions as a base. Cut the halloumi in half, then in half again. Put two pieces of halloumi on caramelised onions (two per foil pocket).
Add the roast tomatoes, any juice from the tomatoes and fresh thyme.

Pull the edges of the foil up together and slightly scrunch them to create a pocket. Place the pockets on a tray and into the oven. Cook at 180C for 20-25 minutes.
Serve hot, with a nice chunk of bread to mop up the onion sauce.

In this recipe I used Waitrose 1 traditional halloumi with mint. It has a firm texture, and is made from pasteurised ewe's and goat's milk. Flavoured with mint, it is hand folded the traditional way in Cyprus.

Baked cheese was tasty enough, though I do prefer halloumi fried or grilled.
I also recently cooked Foil-baked feta with caper berries and Greek basil, and prefer the texture of baked feta.

Which baked cheese is your favourite?

Adding this post to #KitchenClearout linky hosted by Cheryl at Madhouse Family Reviews, as I have conveniently used the end of the bottle of maple syrup in this recipe.