Halloumi chorizo skewers with orange watercress salad

Summer barbecues are the best! And these halloumi and chorizo skewers are super quick to prepare, you just need to set aside some time for marinating. Try and get a soft chorizo, and you can decide if you want a spicy or mild one. The smoky chorizo flavour goes perfectly with this refreshing orange watercress salad – a new favourite of mine, which I recently discovered at a Lisbon taberna.

So, enjoy the sunshine with these awesome skewers!

(PS: You can completely ditch the marinade if you’re stretched for time!)

Ingredients

For the marinade:
2 tbsp honey
60ml red wine vinegar
40ml olive oil
2 tbsp dried oregano
2 tbsp smoked paprika
3 garlic cloves, crushed

1 chorizo ring (250g)
1 block of halloumi (225g)
8 spring onions

For the salad:
2 oranges
1 small fennel bulb
40g flaked almonds
150g watercress

For the dressing:
2 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp orange juice
1 tbsp lemon juice
¼ tsp smoked paprika powder
a splash of Tabasco
salt and pepper

Method

Serves 4 – Prep: 50min + min. 2h marinating

Mix all the marinade ingredients in a large bowl.

Cut the chorizo into 12 slices of approximately 2.5cm. Cut the halloumi into 12 chunks. Trim the spring onions and cut off two 5-cm pieces from the base (use the leftover green tops in another recipe).

Toss the chorizo, halloumi and spring onions in the marinade and marinate overnight or for at least 2 hours.

For the salad: Cut the top and bottom off the oranges, then cut down the sides with a sharp knife to remove the skin and white pith. Cut out segments from the oranges and put in a bowl. Squeeze out the orange leftovers and keep the juice for the dressing.

Finely slice the fennel on a mandolin. Toast the flaked almonds in a dry frying pan until golden. Set aside.

Mix all the dressing ingredients and set aside.
Once ready to barbecue, threat a spring onion slice into a skewer, followed by a piece of chorizo and a piece of halloumi, then repeat so that you end up having 4 spring onion pieces, 3 chorizo pieces and 3 halloumi pieces on each skewer.

Grill the skewers for about 6 minutes, turning them regularly, until charred on all sides.

Assemble the salad by mixing the watercress, orange segments, sliced fennel, toasted almonds and dressing in a large bowl. Distribute between 4 plates, and top each with a skewer. Serve immediately.