Recipe | Fennel, orange + halloumi salad with 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 is that’s what you have on hand.

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Serves 4

Gluten-free

Ingredients

1 fennel bulb

juice of ½ lemon

extra virgin olive oil, to shallow-fry

200g halloumi, thickly sliced

2 oranges, peeled (remove white pith too) and thinly sliced

70g (½ cup) kalamata olives, pitted + roughly chopped

½ red onion, finely sliced

large handful of flat-leaf parsley leaves, roughly torn

small handful of mint leaves, finely chopped

Chilli honey dressing

½ teaspoon Dijon mustard

½ teaspoon honey

½ teaspoon Aleppo pepper flakes or pinch of dried chilli flakes

juice of 1 lemon

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

fine sea salt + freshly ground

black pepper

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Method

Use a mandoline or super-sharp knife to finely shave the fennel bulb. Transfer to a bowl, drizzle with the 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 1 minute each side, until golden brown. Remove from the pan and cut into bite-sized pieces.

To make the chilli honey dressing, combine the 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, onion and herbs. Drizzle the dressing over and serve immediately.

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