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Broad bean and raw courgette salad

with ricotta

Serves 4 as a side

This salad screams early summer, with its nutty raw courgette ribbons, vivid green broad beans, lemon juice and sprightly fresh herbs. I use smaller, firmer courgettes for this as they are the stars of the show. If you grow your own and have any courgette flowers, tear them up and add them for extra colour. This makes a really special al fresco lunch, and is nice piled onto the warm yoghurt flatbreads (see here).

2 medium courgettes, peeled into long thin ribbons with a vegetable peeler

handful of mint leaves

handful of basil leaves

2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

grated zest and juice of ½ unwaxed lemon

1 tsp runny honey

1 garlic clove, grated

pinch of dried chilli flakes or 1 fresh red chilli, desseded and finely chopped (optional)

100g podded fresh or frozen broad beans

100g ricotta, drained in a sieve, or Fresh Curd Cheese (see here)

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 Put the courgette ribbons in a bowl with half the herbs.

2 Whisk the olive oil, lemon zest and juice, honey, garlic and chilli flakes (if using) in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

3 Dress the courgette ribbons with the dressing.

4 Prepare a bowl of iced water. Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil and blanch the broad beans for a couple of minutes, then drain and immediately plunge them into the iced water. Once cool, drain again and squeeze the broad beans from their skins, using your nail to pierce the skin. You can skip this step if you’re using super-young broad beans, as the skins are less bitter than the older ones.

5 Pile the dressed courgettes onto a platter, scatter the broad beans onto the salad and dot over the ricotta or fresh curd cheese. Garnish with the rest of the herbs and serve with any remaining dressing on the side.

TIP: Broad beans can be fiddly to peel so I usually blanch and peel them as soon as I get them, then keep them in a bowl in the fridge dressed with a teaspoon of olive oil ready to use whenever I fancy. They will keep for a few days like this.