OLIVE, PESTO & COURGETTE RIBBON SALAD
 
 
Ingredients
  • For the salad:
  • 4 medium courgettes washed and “zoodled”
  • ¼ cup of kalamata olives halved lengthways
  • ¼ cup of lightly toasted pinenuts
  • ¼ cup finely shaved parmesan cheese
  • 1 cup sweet baby peas (I use frozen)
  • 1 cup washed baby spinach leaves
  • For the dressing:
  • ¼ cup of basil pesto
  • juice & rind of 1 large, ripe lemon
  • salt & pepper
  • Optional:
  • fresh basil leaves
Method
  1. Wash courgettes, chop the ends off, and put through a spiralizer to make courgette noodles, set aside on a plate lined with 4 paper towels, sprinkle a generous amount of table salt over the zoodles and set aside to rest- this will draw out the excess fluid from the courgettes.
  2. Wash baby spinach and fresh basil leaves if you have these, and set aside to dry.
  3. Bring a small pot of lightly salted water to the boil and cook baby peas for 2-3 minutes, remove from heat, discard hot water, and douse in cold water to stop them from overcooking.
  4. Lightly toast pinenuts until golden brown in a hot dry pan- ensure you keep a close eye on them because they can burn quickly!!
  5. Halve the kalamata olives lenghthways and finely shave the parmesan cheese.
  6. To make the dressing combine pesto, juice and rind of 1 lemon, and season to taste with salt and pepper
  7. Return to the zoodles and gently squeeze with a handful of paper towels, toss the noodles around and keep squeezing to encourage the water out, you may need to do this a few times and renew the paper towels with dry ones as they become damp quickly!
  8. Place zoodles into a salad bowl, along with baby spinach, peas, olives and pine nuts- leave a few to dress the salad with when ready to serve.
  9. Toss with salad dessing prepared earlier until well mixed through.
  10. Sprinkle over the shaved parmesan and remaining pine nuts and serve.
Recipe by Foliage at http://foliage.co.nz/olive-pesto-courgette-ribbon-salad/