Lemony Chickpea & Orzo Salad with Halloumi

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Jasmine

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Summer is here and it’s the season of light, fresh, low-effort meals! It’s always a challenge to make a salad that feels filling enough to be classed as a ‘whole meal’, but I think we’ve cracked it with this one…

INGREDIENTS

Filling:

Chickpeas (I recommend jarred as a happy medium between convenience and flavour / structure)

Orzo pasta (you could substitute with rice if needed)

Halloumi

Herbs & aromatics:

Chilli flakes

Garlic

Mint

Parsley

Vegetables & leaves:

Carrot

Baby plum tomatoes

Rocket

Dressing:

Unwaxed lemon zest and juice

Extra virgin olive oil (choose something high-quality and fresh-tasting)

TIPS

When we make a creamy orzo pasta, the starch is key to creating that texture, but for a pasta salad: we want the opposite! So we’re going to cook the orzo and then rinse it thoroughly with cold water to remove the starch and ensure it doesn’t get sticky in our salad.

Lemony Chickpea & Orzo Salad with Halloumi

  • Servings: 4
  • Difficulty: Easy
  • Print

A fresh but filling salad main for summer

Dressing shaker or mason jar required, no advance prep needed 




Ingredients

    
 *
200g of orzo pasta
  • 375g of chickpeas (drained weight) (drained and rinsed)
  • 225g of halloumi (rinsed and cut into cubes)
  • 1 carrot (peeled and grated)
  • 2 garlic cloves (finely chopped, grated or crushed)
  • 1 tsp of chilli flakes
  • 150g of baby plum tomatoes (sliced in half)
  • 40g of rocket
  • A large handful (c.15g) of parsley (de-stemmed and chopped)
  • A small handful (c. 5g) of mint (de-stemmed and chopped)
  • 1/2 a cup of olive oil (+ extra for cooking)
  • 1 unwaxed lemon (juice and zest)
  • Salt and pepper to taste



Directions

    

  1. Boil the kettle and cook the orzo in the salted water over a medium heat as per pack instructions (c. 10-15 minutes) – no need to add too much water (just enough for to orzo to cook through) 

  2. Once the orzo is cooked, rinse with cold water to remove starch
  3. In the same pan, drizzle some olive oil and sauté the carrot, garlic and chilli flakes with seasoning to taste for around 5-7 minutes until softened and fragrant – set aside
  4. Clean off the pan and fry the halloumi, turning at regular intervals until golden on all sides (this should take around 7 minutes)
  5. Combine the 1/2 cup of olive oil with the lemon zest and juice and a generous amount of olive oil in your jar or dressing mixer and shake to combine
  6. Layer together the chickpeas, orzo, rocket, tomatoes, chilli garlic carrots and fresh herbs and mix to combine
  7. Add in the halloumi and when youre ready to serve, drizzle generously with the dressing
    8. 


Let me know if you try my go-to salad this summer!

See how I make this salad here:

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