Courgette and Butterbean Salad

Serves 2 as a lunch or 4-6 as part of a meal.

I had a version of this wonderful salad at a friend’s house a while ago and loved the textures from the combination of vegetables and beans. I decided to tweak some of the flavours and have come up with this, equally tasty, salad which is great as part of a meal or on its own as a healthy and nutritious lunch. It does no harm to make this a couple of hours before serving; in fact, I think it improves as the flavours from the dressing infuse into the vegetables.

If serving with other salads try it with my spiced butternut squash, feta and pomegranate salad.

• Ingredients:

• For the salad:
• 1 large or 2 small courgettes, 1cm dice
• 1 small red onion fine dice
• 200g baby plum tomatoes, halved
• 1 tin butter beans, drained
• 3 sprigs of mint, chopped

• For the dressing:
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp ras al hanout spice
• Salt and pepper (a small pinch of each)

Step 1: Add the courgettes and red onion to a large bowl along with the tomatoes and butterbeans.

Step 2: Add the dressing ingredients to an empty jam jar and, with the lid on, shake vigorously for a few seconds until combined. Alternatively, whisk together in a bowl.

Step 3: Pour the dressing over the salad and stir through along with the chopped mint.