Greek Halloumi Skewers With Hazelnut Pesto

Greek Halloumi Skewers With Hazelnut Pesto are a delicious yet easy summer starter or snack that always goes down well. The salty, soft, and chewy taste of halloumi works so well with an extra nutty, earthy pesto and evokes that sense of an al fresco lunch overlooking the Aegean.

Halloumi cheese is special because of its high melting point, which allows it to stay solid even when grilled or fried. It's a salty cheese that originates in Greece or Cyprus and is usually made from a mixture of goat and sheep milk, but sometimes cow's milk.

Jump to:

• 📖 Ingredients List
• 👩🏼‍🍳 Instructions
• 👩🏼‍🍳 Chef's Tips & Serving suggestions
• 🍷 Wine pairing for halloumi
• ❄️ Storage & Freezing
• 🥣 Equipment
• ❓Recipe FAQ
• 🍽 Other summer recipes
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

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📖 Ingredients List

1. Halloumi cheese - Authentic halloumi cheese comes in a block, normally with a bit of water in the packet. Drain it well and pat it dry with paper towels before making this recipe. Reduced-fat or low-fat halloumi generally has more water, so it doesn't fry up as well. Or taste as good!
2. Baby courgettes (zucchini)—You can swap this for bell pepper or leave it out altogether, but I like the contrasting crunch. Only use baby courgettes or Italian zucchini as they are small enough not to be full of water and disintegrate.
3. Olive oil - I use extra virgin olive oil or normal olive oil to fry halloumi, it has the right flavor profile for the dish.

Hazelnut Pesto

1. Hazelnuts—Fresh, whole roasted hazelnuts form the base of the pesto.
2. Pine nuts—These are for the classic pesto undertones, and they add an additional crunch and rich taste to the dish.
3. Basil—Always use fresh basil in pesto. You will need a lot!
4. Parmesan—Ready-Grated cheeses are often treated with anticoagulants to prevent clumping, so I always prefer to grate parmesan from a whole block.
5. Garlic - You can add as much garlic as you like.
6. Olive oil - I prefer not to use very strong extra virgin olive oil in pesto to avoid overpowering the taste of the basil.
7. Lemon juice and zest - this brightens the pesto and lifts all the flavors.

👩🏼‍🍳 Instructions

For the pesto

1. Roast the hazelnuts on a tray in the oven at 170C/340F for about 10 minutes. Then, remove them to a bowl to cool and replace them with the pine nuts. Roast the pine nuts for 5 minutes until browned.
2. Once the hazelnuts have cooled, rub them between slightly damp hands. The skins will flake off. Discard the papery hazelnut skins.
3. Blanch the basil leaves very briefly (10 seconds) in a bowl or saucepan of freshly boiled water, then immediately remove them to a paper towel-lined plate and pat/squeeze them dry. I use tongs to dip them into the water.
4. Blend all the pesto ingredients in a food processor (leave a few hazelnuts and pine nuts whole to garnish) until you reach your desired consistency, adding more oil if needed to loosen it up. Season the hazelnut pesto to taste.

For the Greek halloumi skewers

1. Pat the Greek halloumi cheese dry with paper towels and cut it into chunks. They need to be large enough to thread onto skewers.
2. Top and tail and baby zucchini and cut into pieces around the same size or slightly smaller than the halloumi.
3. Heat olive oil in two separate frying pans over medium heat until it glistens. Cooking them both together in the same pan runs the risk of excess water in the pan, which will prevent good browning.
4. Fry the halloumi and the zucchini separately in each pan until browned on either side.
5. Thread the halloumi and zucchini onto skewers and plate, drizzling with the hazelnut pesto sauce and a few extra pine nuts and chopped hazelnuts.

👩🏼‍🍳 Chef's Tips & Serving suggestions

If you have leftover pesto, use it to make Sautéed Italian Zucchini With Hazelnut Pesto, which is an excellent first course for a dinner party.

🍷 Wine pairing for halloumi

I like serving a crisp, acidic, and very dry Greek white wine with halloumi cheese, like a Dafni. As halloumi is very salty and has a chewy texture and quite 'full' mouth feel it needs a wine that will cut through it.

Learn more basic food and wine pairing tips here to elevate your dinner parties to the next level.

❄️ Storage & Freezing

This dish is best served hot, and fresh. Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge.

I do not recommend freezing halloumi, it can alter the unique texture once defrosted.

🥣 Equipment

You will need an Oven tray, a Saucepan, and a food processor to make the pesto sauce for the Greek halloumi skewers.

Then, use a couple of cast iron skillets or good-quality frying pans to cook the halloumi and zucchini.

❓Recipe FAQ

🍽 Other summer recipes

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📖 Recipe