Blood Orange Salad with Honey Roasted Walnuts and Haloumi Croutons

And how to fillet an orange....much easier than a fish, I promise.

Crunchy, salty, squeaky and delicious. Not the descriptor you normally hear when describing a Greek salad is it.

A few months ago when we were in remote WA visiting our son I made a salad for a group dinner in his share house. Boy that brought back memories, a house full of young people and their comings and goings. One thing doesn’t change, hungry tummies. I’d found the recipe in a wrap up email from NY Times food. Always at opposite times of year I often see recipes for the seasons to come and save them convinced I’ll remember and follow through and cook them but as you’d expect, rarely do, such is the nature of these best intentions. This time though I was heading to the warmth of the north Australian sunshine and make it I did. A twist on Greek salad with the addition of another Hellenic ingredient, Haloumi and pasta from across the straits of the Adriatic and Ionian Seas. A true Mediterranean delight. We’ll be enjoying this one on the regular when summer comes. 

Reading the recipe it caught my attention because of it’s unique twist on a classic dish known the world over. The type of dish we know so well we often don’t even contemplate how you could vary it. A dish that’s reliably easy, enjoyed and takes no brain power. So much so that it doesn’t even occur to you to try and change things up then you come across one like this one blending the base classic combination with some extra ingredients faithfully chosen from the original cuisine.  Evolution.

Both Nigella and Sophie Hansen have talked about this, the delight and admiration they have seeing their creations take on new guises with new versions. A pinch of something else here, the addition of another ingredient there or pairing with a food not originally imagined, all sparked by the different tastes, and skill sets beyond the original.

To see recipes reimagined is a delight I myself can attest to. It’s like watching your children grow in a way. The original creation that sprung from your own hands and tastes takes on new characteristics in the hands of a reader in the same way your children go out into the world taking on life’s experiences and their own self takes on new layers of characteristics here and there. From there a recipe is often handed to another with words of praise after serving perhaps at a dinner or party. The new recipient may add their own twist wrapping the dish in a new layer of taste or technique. Each time this happens a recipe evolves becoming the one of the cook who’s hands have reshaped it adding branches to the original recipe’s family tree.

Often it’s one ingredient that sparks that creativity taking you off on a whole other tangent. The haloumi croutons in the original salad with it’s Greek flair and roots is just that ingredient that sparked this salad. Blood oranges are in season at the moment. Their mottled ruby red and orange flesh both look and taste delicious against the salty crunch of the haloumi cubes with the sweet spicy crunch of the honey roasted walnuts adding a pop of extra flavour to balance out the salty and tangy freshness of the other ingredients. Whilst she sits well next to any protein, especially pork, this one is great to have at a shared table where a vegetarian may joining you. Croutons are best made close to serving for crunch and extra leaves are always a good idea to pad out for extra comers.

Ingredients:

100 gm walnut halves (a little more is fine if your packet is bigger.)

1 tsp fennel seeds

¼ tsp chilli flakes

¼ tsp salt flakes

1 level tb honey

10 gm butter

3 generous handfuls of mixed leaves of your choice. Bitter greens are particularly good but whichever is your favourite will be fine

2 blood oranges peeled and filleted or sliced. Blood orange season is short, regular is fine outside the season. Cut over a bowl to catch the juice.

¼ Spanish onion finely sliced or too taste. You can always run sliced onion under cold water to temper it’s sharpness.

150 gm haloumi cut into crouton sized cubes

1 tsp honey dijon mustard or 1 tsp Dijon and ¼ tsp honey combined

3 tsp olive oil

1 tb juice from the orange carcasses

Method:

Preheat oven to 190c and line a large oven tray.

Combine fennel seeds, chill and salt flakes in a mortar and pestle and grind roughly. They don’t need to be finely ground just crushed up. If you don’t have one pop in a plastic bag and bang out the day’s frustrations with a rolling pin.

In a small saucepan combine crushed spices, honey and butter. Warm gently over medium heat until thoroughly combined, we don’t want it too hot as it’s about to go in the oven. Remove from heat, tip in walnuts, stir to completely coat and tip nuts out onto prepared tray. Spread out to one layer with nuts spaced apart, pop tray in the oven and cook for 8 minutes. Stir once at 4 minutes, don’t allow to burn so keep a close eye on them. Remove from oven, and cool completely. I like to lift the baking paper with nuts still on it off the tray and place it on a cool bench to speed up the cooling and halt their cooking.

To fillet oranges, using a paring knife, slice off top and bottom exposing flesh then slice peel and pith off top to bottom until you have a whole naked orange. Now over a bowl run the knife down along the membrane that separates each section from the outside to the centre of your first segment. Repeat on the other side of that segment, it should slip out from the whole orange. Now repeat on the next segment and all the way around releasing each segment. You’ll be left with a handful or skeleton of the orange. Gibe the is one last squeeze over the bowl you’ve been working over to extract the last of the juice, set aside.

In the bowl of juice combine it with the mustard and olive oil and whisk with a pinch of salt and good grind of black pepper to emulsify, set aside.

On a platter spread your leaves, sprinkle over sliced onion, walnuts and orange segments or slices, set aside.

In a medium pan cover the base with olive oil and warm over a medium-high heat. In the pan cook the haloumi croutons until golden brown and crisp all over. You’ll need to keep them moving the whole time. Sprinkle over assembled salad and drizzle over dressing. Enjoy!

---

Finds & Forays

Earlier this week a craving for a sweet treat struck. Reaching for the library book pile I pulled out Mr Stein’s newy. This lovely loaf will be on high rotation though needs to come with a warning, it’s very hard to stop at one slice.

Do you eat in bed? Maybe weekend breaky while you read the papers or sip a coffee contemplating the day? Loved this one on the subject earlier this week. I’m firmly in the breaky in bed camp, especially in winter, Where do you stand on this ‘big’ issue?.

Finally I’m off to check out Melbourne’s newest food hub tomorrow. I’ve not been to Italy yet but if all the hype is true, hopefully I’ll feel like I’ve had a taste of it tomorrow.

Enjoy your weekend friends,

S x