Roasted yellow courgettes with halloumi and mojo dressing

Serves: 4
Course: Main Course
Cooking Time: 0 hr 30 mins
Ingredients
  • 3 yellow courgettes
  • Handful of basil leaves
  • 2 tbsp broad beans, blanched and podded
  • 3-4 fresh radishes, sliced thinly
  • Zest of 1 lemon
  • 1 red pepper
  • 8 slices of halloumi (we use Toonsbridge)
  • Olive oil
  • Mojo dressing:
  • 3 large red peppers
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • Half tsp sweet paprika
  • 1 red chilli
  • 150 mls of olive oil
  • 1 thick slice of sourdough
  • Olive oil

1 Roast all four red peppers, along with the garlic cloves and red chilli, in an oven heated to 180 degrees Celsius, or equivalent, until the peppers are soft and the skin blistered. Peel the skin off the peppers, remove the stalk and seeds, and slice them thinly. You will use one in the salad and three, along with the garlic and chilli, in the dressing.

2 Slice the courgettes into 1cm slices lengthwise. If they're really long, cut them in half.

3 Lay the courgette strips on a baking tray and drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast in the oven at 190 degrees Celsius, or equivalent, for 15 minutes, until golden brown. Alternatively you can heat up a griddle pan on medium heat, drizzle the courgettes with olive oil, salt and pepper and grill on each side for about two minutes.

4 To make the dressing, toast the bread until crisp, like croutons. Put the three roasted peppers, garlic, chilli, paprika and toasted bread in a blender and pulse slowly, adding olive oil to get a dressing-like consistency. Season to taste.

5 In a mixing bowl, add the squash, basil, broad beans, lemon zest and the remaining red pepper, thinly sliced, and mix well. Season to taste.

6 Heat the olive oil in a pan on medium heat and pan fry the halloumi on both sides until golden brown.

7 Add the halloumi and radish to the mixing bowl and top with some of the mojo dressing.

Jess Murphy

Jess Murphy

Jess Murphy, a contributor to The Irish Times, is a Kiwi chef living on the west coast of Ireland