Courgette (Zucchini), Sunflower Seed & Lemon Salad

Liven up your day with this vibrant courgette or zucchini salad (whatever you like to call them), fresh herb and lemon salad recipe, a delicious combination of crunchy courgettes, nutty roasted sunflower seeds, and lemon dressing that will keep you coming back for more.

Great Additions For This Salad

This Courgette, Sunflower Seed, and Lemon Salad is a delicious and healthy recipe that is perfect for any season. The addition of feta, pecorino, parmesan, or goat’s cheese can add a delicious creaminess and a nice contrast of flavours to the salad. They all have a strong and distinct flavour that will complement the courgettes nicely. Toasted pinenuts, pumpkin seeds, or walnuts are also great additions to this salad as they provide a nice nuttiness and crunch to the dish, they can replace the sunflower seeds or be added along with them. These nuts are rich in healthy fats, vitamins, and minerals, and they will add a nice texture to the salad. Additionally, you can also use lime or white wine vinegar instead of lemon to give the salad a different and refreshing twist, the acidity of the lime or the white wine vinegar will bring out the flavours of the courgettes and complement the nuts and the cheese. This salad is versatile and you can play with different ingredients to make it your own and suit your taste.

Tips & Tricks

• When toasting the sunflower seeds don’t be afraid to heavily toast them, you really unlock depth in flavour when doing this. Just keep them moving once you start to see some smoke and continue for another 2 to 3 minutes.  This is where the ‘chefs pan toss’ skill come in handy.
• Don’t be tempted to peel the centre of the courgette into ribbons, the texture will be mushy in the salad.
• Really mix the courgette ribbons well with the lemon juice and salt, this will cure (begin to soften) the courgette and make the eating experience 10 times better.  I apply this rule to dressing all salads.

Yield: 4 Portions

Courgette, Sunflower Seed & Lemon Salad

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Welcome to my Courgette, Sunflower Seed, and Lemon Salad recipe! This dish is a perfect way to enjoy the freshness of courgettes, the nuttiness of sunflower seeds, and the zesty flavour of lemon. It's a simple, healthy and delicious salad that is perfect for any season, this salad is so adaptable and you can add different ingredients to make it your own and suit your taste, The courgettes are thinly sliced and paired with sunflower seeds and a lemon dressing, making this salad a light and refreshing dish that is perfect as a side or as a light lunch. This recipe is easy to follow, and it takes only a few minutes to prepare, so let's get started and make this delicious Courgette, Sunflower Seed, and Lemon Salad!

Prep Time 10 minutes

Total Time 10 minutes

Ingredients

• 25g / 1oz sunflower seeds
• 3 x courgettes (zucchinis)
• 1/2 a lemon juiced
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Fresh soft herbs of your choice. I used basil & coriander (cilantro)
• Salt
• Pepper

Instructions

1. Toast sunflower seeds in a dry pan until smoking, move them constantly once you start to see a few whisps of smoke, take them out of the pan into a bowl and mix them with a little salt whilst they are hot.
2. Peel the courgettes into ribbons with a vegetable peeler or mandolin, stop peeling them once you start to see seeds.
3. Mix the courgette ribbons with lemon juice, salt, cracked black pepper and olive oil until everything is evenly coated.
4. Serve in a bowl with the toasted sunflower seeds and soft herbs of your choice.