Oregano-poached peaches, halloumi & hazelnuts
A beautiful summer salad elevated by an exceptional dried herb
Recipe Meta
Prep
15 mins
Cook
30 mins
Serves
2 as a main, 4 as a side
Difficulty
Medium
Ingredients
- 2 tsp dried oregano (or an Oliveology dried sprig)
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 orange
- 2 peaches
- 40g skinned whole hazelnuts
- 1 tbsp fruity olive oil
- 6 sprigs of mint
- 225g halloumi
Method
Pour 500ml water into a medium saucepan. Add the dried oregano (or oregano dried sprig), the honey and two broad strips of zest from the orange. Bring to the boil and, meanwhile, quarter and stone the peaches. Put them into the water, lower the heat to a simmer and sit a piece of baking paper on top. Simmer for 7-10 mins until the peaches are fully tender. Use a slotted spoon to lift the peaches out and set aside. If their skins start to flake away as they cool, just peel them off.
Strain the poaching liquor, discard the oregano and orange peel, then pour the poaching liquor back into the saucepan. Don’t worry if a few pieces of oregano are left in the liquid. Boil over a high heat for 10-15 mins to reduce to a syrup – you are aiming for about 75ml syrup.
While the poaching liquor reduces, toss the hazelnuts in the olive oil along with some salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper. Set a small dry frying pan over a low heat, then add the seasoned nuts and stir for 3 mins or until they are just getting nicely toasted. Transfer to a bowl. Once they have cooled, roughly chop with the leaves from the mint sprigs. Cut the poached peach quarters into slices about 1cm thick.
Once the syrup is almost sufficiently reduced, cut the halloumi into 1cm-thick slices. Set the same frying pan the nuts cooked in back onto the heat, then add the halloumi pieces turning each over after 2 mins or so once they are browned. You might need to do this in two batches.
Serve either on individual plates or on a large platter. Sit the halloumi on first, then arrange the peach slices prettily on top, scatter over the seasoned nut and mint mixture, and finish by spooning over your oregano-infused peach syrup.
Image: Kim Lightbody
Recipe from Borough Market: The Knowledge with Angela Clutton (Hodder & Stoughton 2022)
