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Smoky courgette pasta salad recipe

Smoky courgette pasta salad recipe

62 ratings

Dust off the tongs and light up the grill and treat yourself to a midweek barbecue dinner with this simple pasta salad. Chargrilling the courgette ribbons helps add smoky, caramelised flavours which is balanced out with a cooling, zesty lemon yogurt mix. See method

  • Serves 4
  • 35 mins plus BBQ preheating
  • 490 calories / serving
  • Healthy
  • Vegetarian

Ingredients

  • 350g courgettes, trimmed and sliced lengthways into 5mm-thick strips
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 350g penne
  • ½ lemon, zested and juiced
  • 250g cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 150g low-fat natural yogurt
  • ½ garlic clove, crushed
  • 100g salad cheese, crumbled
  • ¼ cucumber, coarsely grated
  • 10g fresh parsley, finely chopped
2 of your five-a-day and low in saturated fat

Each serving contains

  • Energy

    2070kj
    490kcal
    25%
  • Fat

    14g 20%
  • Saturates

    4g 21%
  • Sugars

    13g 14%
  • Salt

    0.8g 13%

of the reference intake
Carbohydrate 78.1g Protein 17.6g Fibre 6.7g

Method

  1. If using a charcoal barbecue, preheat at least 40 mins before you want to cook. It’s ready when the large flames have died down and the coals are white and ashy. Alternatively, heat a griddle pan over a high heat.

  2. Put the courgette strips in a bowl and drizzle with 1 tbsp oil; season. Toss well to coat. Griddle or barbecue the courgettes for 4-5 mins each side until picking up char lines and soft throughout, working in batches if needed. Transfer to a plate. Once cool enough to handle, cut into bite- sized pieces at an angle.

  3. Cook the pasta to pack instructions. Drain well and rinse with a little cold water to prevent the pieces sticking together. Tip into a bowl and drizzle with 1 tbsp oil; season. Add the lemon juice and tomatoes and toss well.

  4. Mash the yogurt, garlic, lemon zest and most of the salad cheese in a bowl with a fork until combined. Stir in the grated cucumber and most of the parsley.

  5. Toss the charred courgette pieces into the pasta salad. Add dollops of the cucumber yogurt and top with the remaining salad cheese and parsley and a crack of black pepper. Stir the cucumber yogurt through the pasta just before serving.

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