SHAVED COURGETTE & CHUNKY WILD GARLIC DRESSING
When I wrote this post on this was the perfect salad for the gorgeous sunny weather. Now the grey skies have come back but that’s no reason not to enjoy this spring dish. The vegetables at this time of year are so gorgeous and flavourful, fresh and raw seems like the perfect way to go.
I’m obsessed with super fresh raw salads at the moment. Shaved vegetables with fresh, zingy dressings, lots of herbs, spiced, herby salsas alongside. This dish makes a beautiful starter or a perfect addition to a mezze spread, going along side richer dishes to add freshness and contrast.
On a slightly different note, although when I gave up dairy I vowed I’d never start eating vegan cheese. Purely because all I could find was plastic- like imitations. Not something I really eat too much of… However, things have changed! There are some incredible non dairy cheeses available now. A nice addition to this salad would be some slightly soft, crumbly white cheese. There’s a few great independent non-dairy brands out there, Nutgrove’s edale cheese is a very nice addition to salads, it’s not in the recipe but I added a few chunks to this salad and it went really well.
Some other serving ideas, I mixed this courgette salad through some cooked beluga (black) lentils to make it more of a meal. It would great served with some fresh bread to spread the dressing (and cheese?!) on. This recipe makes a little more than needed for the salad but, it works nicely as a condiment or dressing for grains, pulses or even pasta. You can also substitute the wild garlic for mint, which would be really nice.
So, short and sweet this time, hopefully the sun will be back soon too!
Serves 2
2 courgettes
20g mint
10g parsley
2 small red onions, finely sliced
1 dutch red chilli, deseeded and finely sliced
20g cashews or pistachios, roasted
1 grapefruit (apple or pomegranate would also be nice)
juice & zest of 1 unwaxed lemon
1 tablespoon olive oil
pinch salt and pepper to taste.
Wild garlic chunky dressing
25g wild garlic
15g parsley
25g cashews or pistachios, roasted
½ lemon
90g olive oil
pinch sea salt & black pepper
First make your dressing. In a food processor, or pestle and mortar, pound or blitz or pound theyour ingredients into a rough dressing.
For the salad. - Using a vegetable peeler, shave the courgettes into ribbons and place in a large mixing bowl. Wash and roughly chop your herbs, roughly chop your nuts, peel and segment your grapefruit and add these along with all of the rest of the ingredients to your mixing bowl. Mix well.
Add 2 tablespoons of the dressing to the salad, mix again, taste for seasoning and add more dressing if you like, or serve extra dressing alongside with some bread or to spoon over the salad. Serve with some good bread to mop up the extra dressing!