Courgette spiralised salad with radish-top pesto

Courgette Zoodle Salad with radish top pesto. (Serves 2)

Courgette Zoodle Salad Ingredients:

2 medium courgettes

1 vine of tomatoes

6 Radish (sliced)

Seasonal salad leaves + flowers (pea shoots, beet leaves, nasturtium)

Black onion seeds

Lemon zest

Radish Top Pesto: (see recipe here)

70g radish tops (1 large bunch) washed and drained

1 cup spinach

1/2 clove garlic minced

1/4 cup sunflower seeds dry roasted in the oven

3 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp lemon juice or apple cider vinegar

Salt and pepper to taste

Lemon zest (1/4 lemon)

Place all ingredients into a food processor and blend until smooth or pulse blend for a more textured pesto. 

Place in a sealed jar and store for up to a week in the refrigerator.

Method:

Set the oven to 180 degrees.  Place the tomatoes on a tray lined with baking parchment and drizzle with olive oil and season with salt. Bake for 20-30 mins until starting to colour and caramelise.

Make the radish top pesto.

Spiralize the courgettes using a spiralizer or julienne peeler.

Combine 2 large table spoons of the pesto with the noodles and massage with your hands until well combined.

Add the roasted tomatoes and mix through.

Scatter some salad leaves on a plate and place two handfuls of zoodles on top.

Dress with onion seeds, lemon zest, and flowers.

Waste Not: Use up any green tops you have and make them in to a delicious pesto. Other greens to use in a pesto include beetroot and carrot tops.

Tips:  If you don’t have a spiralizer you can use a mandolin, a julienne peeler, or a potato peeler and make ribbons instead.

Nutrition: This recipe is a really good low carb alternative to noodles or pasta and is a great way of increasing your vegetable intake in a meal.  Nasturtium leaves are incredibly rich in vitamin C and so are great for supporting your immune system.  They are also incredibly easy and hardy to grow from seed, so get growing in your garden.

Courgettes are very nutrient dense foods containing blood sugar stabilising soluble fibre, immune boosting vitamin C, B-vitamins, electrolytes, and high amounts of blood pressure reducing potassium.  Half a large courgette counts as 1 of your 5 a day and they are in season from June to October in the UK.

Radish top greens are rich in gut supporting fibre and many nutrients including vitamin C, vitamin A, magnesium, calcium, iron, and phosphorus.