Northwest Recipes: Summer Salad with Lamb and Courgette

Lamb and Courgette Salad

Easy Salads such as this Lamb and Courgette salad are some of my favourite summer dishes to make, there’s not much to prepare or do, not much washing up, and when they are done you can bang them straight out on a plate and serve!

This salad should serve about 3 or 4 and only take an hour at the most.

Wine and music pairings

For wine I recommend a light Italian red such as a Pinot Noir, a couple of bottles of Pónkler from Bowland Vintners would go very well with this salad (of course other vintners are available!)

Recently I’ve rediscovered a group I haven’t listened to for a while which I’ve been lucky enough to see play live; Athlete, some of their tracks playing in the kitchen whilst you’re preparing this should fit the mood perfectly.

Ingredients

6 Lamb chops, Alpes in Clitheroe will see you right for top-quality, locally-sourced lamb.

1 shredded gem lettuce

150g of Feta cheese

150ml cider vinaigrette, (you can buy this or mix it yourself from 70ml virgin olive oil mixed thoroughly with 30ml cider vinegar and seasoned with freshly ground salt and pepper)

3 or 4 courgettes, depending on their size

Extra virgin olive oil

50g finely chopped roasted hazelnuts

1 crushed garlic clove

Fresh Basil, Mint and Rosemary leaves

Freshly ground salt and pepper

Method

First, chop the Courgettes along their length into long, thin slices, brush with oil and sprinkle on a pinch of salt.

Next heat up the griddle and char grill the Courgettes, making sure to turn them and not burn them too much.

Place the Courgettes in the mixing bowl with the Basil and Mint and toss until mixed.

Using the griddle pan cook the Lamb chops, this should take about 3 minutes for each side, after 1 minute add the Garlic and Rosemary.

Just before taking the Lamb off the pan a nifty trick is to press the fatty side of the chop firmly down on the pan to create a bit of tasty crispness!

Now is the right time to nip out and announce that dinner will be served soon and make sure everyone’s glasses are topped up!

Finally assemble all of the ingredients on the plates, sprinkle on the hazelnut, salt, pepper, feta cheese to taste and serve, buon appetito!

A B-H