Crisp Courgette Salad

With broad beans, feta and fresh garlic

Food like this was made for summer… or was summer was made for food like this? Either way, the time of year has come for a light freshness that satisfies the soul. Courgettes will soon become a troublesome glut, but at the start of their season it’s a pleasure to see them again. Crisp and dense will soon become soft and spongy as the summer heats up and marrows sneak their way in unnoticed, so make the most of them now. 

Broad beans are a seasonal celebrity in my mind and go with almost anything, but here they can really shine bringing the perfect contrast and balance. 

Fresh garlic stems, lots of marjoram and a few spring onions season the salad without any need for a dressing. The only thing missing is a salty tang, provided by feta tossed in a little mint, pepper and oil giving all the dressing this salad needs.

Serves 2
Preparation time: 25 minutes
Cooking time: 5 minutes
Ingredients:
1 medium courgette
Cornmeal or semolina
500g +/- broad beans
1 stem of fresh garlic
2 spring onions
1 block of feta
A few sprigs of mint
Rapeseed oil
Sea salt flakes
Fresh ground black pepper
Apple cider vinegar
Lettuce of your choice

1. Start by cutting the courgettes into finger sized pieces, then sprinkle with a little salt to release the moisture and leave to stand in a bowl for a few minutes.
2. Feta also has a lot of moisture that forms part of the dressing, break it up into a bowl, drizzle over some rapeseed oil, chopped mint and lots of fresh ground black pepper. Leave to stand until needed.
3. Bring a small pan of water to the boil, pop the beans from their blankety beds and blanch for a minute. Cool in cold water then peel from their shells.
4. Finely slice the garlic stem and spring onions, pick the marjoram and tear the lettuce. 
5. Return to the courgettes. They will have released some moisture, so toss in enough semolina or cornmeal to generously coat. Fry in a hot pan until crisp, around 3 minutes each side, leaving the green skin. Remove from the pan and drain on kitchen towel.
6. Toss the beans, garlic, marjoram, spring onions, lettuce and feta together and add a small splash of apple cider vinegar to add to the feta marinade. 
7. Scatter the courgettes in with the salad and enjoy.

Serve with some bread to mop up the feta.

Chef Notes:
1. This is one of my favourite BBQ salads for this season, perfect for fish and meat.
2. To make this entirely on the BBQ, grill the courgettes and cook the beans in their pods directly on the coals until black before removing from their pods.

Robin Popham
Chef at ‘Create Terroir’ and Sandy Lane Farm veg box customer