Fennel, orange + halloumi salad w/ chilli honey dressing
The classic pairing of finely shaved fennel bulb with orange is not one that will ever go out of fashion! Here I've boosted the flavour further with an Aleppo pepper-flecked dressing. You'll find Aleppo pepper at selected specialty food stores. It has a lovely mellow heat and beautiful colour and flavour, but of course use regular chilli flakes if that's what you have on hand.
Ingredients
- 1 fennel bulb
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
- extra virgin olive oil to shallow-fry
- 200g halloumi thickly sliced
- 2 oranges peeled (remove white pith too) and thinly sliced
- 70g Kalamata olives pitted + roughly chopped
- 1/2 red onion finely sliced
- large handful flat-leaf parsley leaves roughly torn
- small handful mint leaves finely chopped
Chilli honey dressing
- 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon honey
- 1/2 teaspoon Aleppo pepper flakes or pinch dried chilli flakes
- juice 1 lemon
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- fine sea salt + freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Use a mandolin or a super-sharp knife to finely shave the fennel bulb. Transfer to a bowl, drizzle with lemon juice and mix well.
- Heat a large heavy-based frying pan over high heat. Add a little olive oil and cook the halloumi slices for about 2 minutes each side, until golden brown. Remove from the pan and cut into bite-sized pieces.
- To make the chilli honey dressing, combine mustard, honey, Aleppo pepper or chilli flakes and lemon juice in a small bowl and whisk to combine. Continue whisking as you drizzle in the olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.
- In a large serving bowl, layer the shaved fennel with pieces of halloumi, orange slices, olives and herbs. Drizzle with dressing over and serve immediately.