All seasons orzo, halloumi and olive salad

This orzo halloumi and olives delicious and refreshing salad is one on those light salads that despite looking more of a summery meal can be made all year round and always feel really good and fresh a lighter option, of course.

We have been into eating orzo quite a bit lately, especially the kids, they just love it. Must be its cuteness – a pasta that resembles rice grains and somehow it tastes really good. I am not sure you use orzo in your cooking but we prefer it especially in pasta salads as it is just there to make the dish more delish and it doesn’t feel like you are taking in a lot of pasta?

I love pasta, do not get me wrong and I would eat a lot of it but….you know what I mean, especially as I get older, it doesn’t look so good in my clothes 😉 well, all in all it feels and it is a much lighter dish, put it this way. A nice pasta dish, is a nice pasta dish and I do not even care that much how my clothes look afterwords, ha ha.

The other thing that we eat quite a bit of, it’s olives, we do go through quite a few I must say and use them in all sorts of dishes and salads like this one but also in cooked meals with a tomato sauce base. Olives are nice stuff, they are simply delicious adding that little saltiness to any dish, gorgeous little things. Olives, are one of those ingredients that my fridge is never short of.

More recipes with olives here  or why not try this warm pasta dish where olives are such a beautiful addition.

There are quite a few textures in this dish as well as different flavours from the halloumi cheese me combined with the rocket salad, olives and pomegranate seeds – the latter adding a sweet crunch to this salad making it simply wonderful.

If you would like another halloumi recipe you could try this halloumi quiche.

I’m normally not much into vinaigrettes and sauces but this salad does ask for a little drizzle of a nice and simple vinaigrette and here you can choose your favourite one. I have used a classic olive oil, lemon, sesame seeds and dry herbs but get adventurous and use whatever one you like.

Here’s the recipe folks 👍😋

5 from 6 votes

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All seasons orzo, halloumi and olive salad

A delightfully light salad made with halloumi cheese, orzo olives and rocket salad dressed with a simple vinaigrette.

Course Main Course, Salad, Side Dish, Starter

Cuisine Mediterranean, Ramona's Cuisine

Keyword halloumi cheese, light salad, olives, orzo salad recipe, pomegranate, yummy salad recipe

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 12 minutes

Total Time 27 minutes

Servings 4

Ingredients

For the salad:

• 240 g orzo
• 200 g halloumi cheese
• 100 g rocket salad
• 120 g pomegranate seeds
• 12 olives
• 1 carrot shredded
• 1/4 cabbage shredded (optional)
• 1 tsp lemon rind
• 10 springs fresh parsley

For the Vinaigrette:

• 1 lemon its juice
• 2 tsp sesame seeds slightly toasted
• 3-4 tbsp cold pressed olive oil
• 1 tbsp Italian dry herbs oregano, basil

Metric - US Imperial

Instructions

1. Firstly let’s start by boiling the orzo. Place the pasta into a saucepan with plenty of boiling water and salt. Boil for 7 minutes stirring occasionally. When pasta is cooked drain, rinse with cold water and mix in well a drizzle of olive oil. This really helps with keeping the pasta away from sticking.
2. While pasta is cooking, grill or pan fry the halloumi cheese until nice, gooey and slightly golden brown.
3. Chop the parsley, olives and de-seed 1/2 pomegranate. Grate or spiralise the carrot, shred the cabbage. Place all in a bowl keeping a handful of pomegranate seeds and a good pinch of chopped parsley aside for scattering on top of the salad before serving.
4. Place all vinaigrette ingredients in a jar, close the lid and give it all a good shake. Vinaigrette is ready!
5. Add the boiled and slightly cooled orzo to the bowl with olives and parsley, give it a good old mix, add the halloumi cheese and serve on a bed of rocket salad.
6. Drizzle the vinaigrette over, scatter the pomegranate seeds, the chopped parsley and .... ENJOY!

Recipe Notes

Here you have a refreshing, really light and an all time salad that fit for everyone in any season. Orzo can be replaced by a gluten free pasta to make it suitable option for those gluten intolerant. I have to say that I do not always fancy Olive oil so my other option which I absolutely love is walnut oil. In this salad since it’s contains olives, olive oil it’s perfect but sometimes I don’t add olives but replace those with fresh figs and walnuts that were slightly toasted. It’s simply delish. Enjoy lovelies!

Did you make this delightful recipe?

 

Please do let me know how you liked it, and if you gave this salad any twist, have you made and used a different ingredients, did you top it up with an egg maybe, even some bacon or sausages, all in all, how did it turn out for you, why not leave a comment below or even share a picture on Instagram with the hashtag #ramonascuisine. 😉

 

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Thank you so much for stopping by and I do hope you’ll check my blog again to see what’s new, all amazing cooking ideas and recipes.