This salad is so morish and fresh. Full of flavour and textures it’s basically everything a salad should be. The creamy yoghurt based dressing and the crunchy spiced chickpea croutons are winners you’ll be using in all your salad bowls.

This works perfectly as a summer work lunch or as a side salad at dinner. You could have it with stuffed sweet potatoes or cauliflower steaks for a vegetarian meal or with roast chicken, baked crispy chicken or some steamed fish for you meat eaters.

If you’re not a fan of raw zucchini then you could sup it with cucumber. Making the ribbons gives a lovely texture to the salad and their flavour is really mild when sliced thinly and dressed with lemon juice and salt – it just tastes fresh and light.

What’s your favourite salad at the moment? I feel like at the slightest sign of sunshine I dove head first into salad season, it’s my favourite way to eat as salads are generally pretty quick to prepare and full of texture and flavour when done right.

The only time consuming thing about this recipe is the chickpea croutons. They’re a great gluten free and nutritious alternative to bread croutons. You can use canned or soak and cook dry ones it’s totally up to you. You do need to be patient with them otherwise they will soften up as they sit out so make sure they’re good and crispy before you release them from the warm confines of your oven.

Serves 4 as a generous side salad

Ingredients

Croutons

1 x 400g can of chickpeas or 1.25 cups of cooked chickpeas. Rinsed and well drained.

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp salt

1 Tbs olive oil

 

Dressing

2/3 cup flat leaf parsley

1/3 cup mint

1 small garlic clove, crushed

juice and zest of 1/2 a lemon

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

2 Tbs water

2/3 cup thick greek yoghurt

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

 

Salad

2 zucchinis

juice and zest of 1/2 a lemon

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups mixed lettuce leaves

1/2 cup shaved parmesan

1 avocado, cut into 1-2cm chunks

1 large handful green beans, trimmed and blanched then chopped in half

1/3 cup finely sliced spring onion

1/3 cup roughly chopped roasted almonds

2 Tbs flax seeds

1/4 cup toasted sunflower seeds

 

Directions

For the croutons

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius. Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Spread chickpeas in a single layer on the prepared tray and roast for 10 minutes or until completely dry to touch.

In a medium sized bowl mix the spices and salt. Add the dry chickpeas and toss to coat, spread out on the baking tray again and drizzle with olive oil. Roast for 30-45 minutes or until golden and crispy to bite into.

For the dressing

Finely chop herbs and mix well with other ingredients. Taste and adjusting seasoning if required. You want it the consistency of thick mayo, add more water if it’s too thick. Set aside.

For the salad

Use a vegetable peel to peel long ribbons of zucchini. Place these in the bottom of the salad bowl, sprinkle with salt lemon juice and sext. Toss to combine. Prepare your other salad ingredients and add to the bowl. When ready to serve, scatter half the chickpeas over the top of the salad add a few generous dollops of the dressing and toss gently to combine ingredients evenly. Scatter with the remaining chickpeas and serve any remaining dressing on the side.

HH. x