Tahini-dressed courgette and green bean salad
This lovely dish is as much about the dressing as the salad. It’s the kind of thick, trickling dressing that gives a Middle Eastern edge and a bit of body to all kinds of salads and veg assemblies. It’s particularly good whenever courgettes or aubergines – grilled, barbecued or fried – are part of the mix. It works with lentils, other pulses, spelt and quinoa too. And its coating consistency makes it ideal to use as a dip or dressing for crudités and rolled-up lettuce leaves.
Servings 4
Ingredients
FOR THE TAHINI DRESSING
½ garlic clove, crushed with a little coarse sea salt
2 tablespoons light tahini (stir the jar well first)
Finely grated zest and juice of ½ lemon
Juice of ½ orange
½ teaspoon clear honey
2 tablespoons olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
FOR THE SALAD
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 medium courgettes (about 400g), sliced into 3mm rounds
Juice of ½ lemon
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
About 125g French beans, trimmed
4 good handfuls of salad leaves
12-18 oven-dried tomatoes or semi-dried tomatoes (optional)
A handful of mint, finely shredded (optional)
Method
To make the tahini dressing:
Put the crushed garlic into a small bowl with the tahini, lemon zest and juice, orange juice, honey and a grind of black pepper, and stir together well. The dressing may thicken and go grainy or pastey, but don’t worry. Just thin it down by whisking in a little water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until you get a creamy, trickling consistency. Finally, gently stir in the olive oil. Taste and add a little more salt and pepper if needed. The dressing is now ready to use.
For the salad:
Heat the olive oil in a large non-stick frying pan over a fairly high heat and cook the courgette slices in batches, tossing them occasionally, for a few minutes until tender and browned on both sides, transferring them to a bowl once cooked.
When the courgettes are all cooked, season generously with salt and pepper, add the lemon juice and chilli and toss together well.
Bring a pan of salted water to the boil. Tip in the French beans, return to the boil and blanch for 1 minute. Drain, then dunk in cold water to refresh. Drain again, pat dry with a clean tea towel and toss the beans with the courgettes.
To assemble the salad, spread the salad leaves in a large shallow serving bowl and scatter over the dressed courgettes and beans, tomatoes and shredded mint, if using. Trickle the tahini dressing generously over the whole lot and serve.