Marinated Courgettes: Side, Starter or Light Lunch
Marinated courgettes (zucchini) is one of those simple salads you don’t believe will be nearly as good as it in fact is. With only a few ingredients, the flavours really shine. Serve as a side dish or scatter with either toasted pine nuts or goat’s cheese to make a rather fabulous and elegant starter or light lunch.
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For our nearly thirty year anniversary of first getting together a couple of weeks ago, CT and I splashed out and enjoyed lunch at The Pig. The fresh produce, grown in their own garden is a joy.
The highlight for me was their marinated garden courgettes with goat’s cheese which they served as a starter. I couldn’t believe how delicious it was. So no sooner did I get home, then I created my own version. With the first of our homegrown courgettes I might add.
Dive Right In
- Why You’ll Want To Make These Marinated Courgettes
- Marinated Garden Courgettes
- Ingredients, Additions And Substitutions
- How To Make Marinated Courgettes
- Other Courgette Recipes You Might Like
- Keep In Touch
- Pin It
- The Recipe
Why You’ll Want To Make These Marinated Courgettes
- A beautiful way to enjoy raw courgettes – Marinating softens the ribbons and brings out their delicate flavour, making this salad light, fresh and full of character.
- Easy to adapt – My recipe is naturally vegan but vegetarians will love it too. Add crumbles of goat’s cheese for creaminess or toasted pine nuts for crunch.
- Great for planning ahead – Since the courgettes need time to marinate, it’s a brilliant make-ahead option for relaxed lunches, picnics or entertaining.
- Ideal for summer menus – Cool and zesty with a hint of garlic and chilli, it’s just the thing to serve on warm days. Works as a starter, light lunch, side for barbecues or even part of a meze spread.
- A lovely use for summer courgettes – If you’re growing your own or buying in season, this recipe is a fresh way to enjoy courgettes without cooking them. It’s a good way to make use of a glut too.
- Minimal effort, maximum reward – It only takes a few minutes to prepare, then the marinade does all the work. Perfect when you want something special without standing over the stove.
- Naturally healthy – Raw courgettes are low in calories and high in fibre and the simple dressing keeps things light without sacrificing taste.
- Stunning on the plate – The courgette ribbons look elegant with a scatter of herbs and a final glossy drizzle of olive oil. It’s a dish that feels as good to serve as it does to eat.
Marinated Garden Courgettes
Italians know how to make simple food taste great. It’s all about the quality and freshness of the ingredients. The key to these marinated courgettes is making sure you use a good quality olive oil and courgettes that are nice and fresh and not too big.
Light and refreshing, this salad is just what you need on a warm summer’s day. It’s cool, crisp and full of zingy flavour.
Strips of marinated courgette look fabulous when curled on a plate. It makes for a striking starter or elegant lunch, so the recipe is perfect for entertaining. Just top with goat’s cheese if you’re vegetarian or toasted pine nuts for a plant-based version.
The courgettes also works well as a side dish, with or without the optional toppings. They go well with summer barbecues and are ideal for alfresco dining.
One of my favourite ways to eat them is on sourdough toast. I spread the toast with soft goat’s cheese, then pile a few herb scattered ribbons on top. A drizzle of olive oil and I have a super easy and delicious lunch.
I used a mandoline to make thin courgette ribbons, but you can easily use a swivel vegetable peeler instead. If you’re after a mandoline, I can highly recommend this OXO Good Grips mandoline (affiliate link). I’ve had my fair share of cut fingers in the past, but never with this one. It also doesn’t leave great chunks of waste at the end of the process. You can see my mini review of it in this cucumber roll-ups with feta post.
Ingredients, Additions and Substitutions
As I’ve already mentioned, you only need a handful of simple ingredients to make these marinated courgettes. But the quality of those ingredients is crucial.
Courgettes (Zucchini)
As is usually the case when using just a few simple ingredients, the fresher the produce the better. Medium or small courgettes (zucchini) are both good for this recipe, but don’t use large ones, they’ll likely be too seedy.
Marinade
Use as good a quality extra virgin olive oil as you can. When you only have a few ingredients, every one of them counts. A nice fruity flavour with peppery notes is perfect.
Lemon makes this salad sing. As well as the juice, I like to use the zest for an additional flavour boost. If you’d like to do the same, I recommend buying organic lemons as it’s quite hard to get the wax off ordinary ones.
Garlic is a must for this recipe. Go for a nice plump juicy clove. The fresher the better.
Rather than salt, I like to use chilli salt. Just a couple of pinches gives flavour to the dish, but without noticeable signs of heat. I make my own and always have a jar on the go. It’s super useful and particularly good sprinkled over eggs.
You can of course, use sea or rock salt and add a pinch of chilli flakes instead.
Herbs
Pretty much any soft fresh herbs will work with this recipe. I used a mix of chives and basil. However, chervil, dill, parsley and tarragon are all good. Use on their own or mix them up as you see fit.
How To Make Marinated Courgettes
Hands on time to prepare these marinated courgettes is minimal, but you do need at least a couple of hours to marinade them. No special equipment is required, though a mandoline will make the job faster and produce more uniform results.
Please refer to the recipe card at the bottom of this post for cooking temperatures and quantities of ingredients used.
Step 1. Make Marinade
Start by making the marinade. Peel the garlic clove and finely grate or crush it into a small mixing bowl. Scrub the lemon, then finely zest that too, straight into the bowl. A microplane (affiliate link) is ideal for this.
Add the chilli and salt (or chilli salt if using), then squeeze in the lemon juice. Whisk everything together.
Finally add the olive oil and whisk again.
Step 2. Prepare Courgettes
Lightly scrub the courgettes, then top and tail them.
Using a mandolin or swivel peeler, slice the courgettes lengthways into long thin ribbons. I used the thinnest setting on my mandoline (affiliate link). If you prefer a knife use that and slice them as thinly as you can. Whatever you use, do be careful. It’s so easy to cut yourself.
Step 3. Marinade Courgettes
Lay the slices in a suitably sized airtight container. Plastic containers are likely to retain some of the oily, garlicky residue, so try to use stainless steel or glass if possible.
Pour the dressing over the top, then seal. Give the container a good shake.
Marinade at room temperature, or in the fridge for four to six hours, giving the container an occasional shake to ensure all the courgette strips are soaking up the flavours. If you’re really strapped for time, allow two hours, but more is better. Anything up to twenty four is fine.
The longer the courgette ribbons marinate, the bendier they become and thus easier to manipulate into curls and swirls on the plate.
Step 4. Serve
If marinading the courgettes in the fridge, remove them at least thirty minutes before serving, so they can come back up to room temperature.
Add the herbs just before serving with an additional drizzle of olive oil.
To plate up, if serving as a starter, lunch or party salad, pile the ribbons onto a large serving platter, curling them as you go. Use a fork or your fingers to do this. Alternatively, divide between four individual plates and do the same.
Snip the chives and finely tear or chop the basil then scatter them over the ribbons. Spoon a little of the marinade over the top then scatter with toasted pine nuts, goat’s cheese or both, if using.
Finally, drizzle a little olive oil over the top and serve.
Best eaten within twenty four hours.
Other Courgette Recipes You Might Like
- beans, courgettes & sweetcorn with roasted hazelnuts
- courgette & blue cheese quiche
- courgette corn soup with vegan pesto
- courgettes with baked beans and salsa verde
- freekeh with chilli chickpeas and herbed vegetables
- vegetable frittata: potato, courgette, red pepper
And if that’s not enough, how about this post for all the courgette recipes you will ever need?
Keep in Touch
Thank you for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make this marinated courgettes dish, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. What’s your favourite courgette recipe?
Please rate the recipe too. And do tag me @choclette8 on Instagram with your images, I love to see your take on my recipes.
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If you’d like more salad recipes, follow the link and you’ll find I have quite a lot of them. All delicious and nutritious, of course.
Choclette x
Marinated Courgettes. PIN IT.
Marinated Courgettes: Side, Starter or Light Lunch
Equipment
- microplane (affiliate link) optiona
Ingredients
Marinade
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 lemon zest and juice – preferably organic
- 1 pinch chilli flakes crushed
- 1 pinch fine sea or rock salt
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil plus more for drizzling
Salad
- 450 g courgette (zucchini) 2 medium sized or 4 small
- 8 chives finely snipped
- 2 sprig basil finely torn, or chopped
Optional Extras
- 20 g pine nuts toasted
- 40 g soft goat’s cheese
Instructions
Marinade
- Start by making the marinade. Finely grate or crush the garlic into a small mixing bowl. Finely zest the lemon straight into the bowl too.1 clove garlic
- Add the chilli and salt, then squeeze in the lemon juice. Whisk everything together.1 pinch chilli flakes, 1 pinch fine sea or rock salt, 1 lemon
- Add the olive oil and whisk again.2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Salad
- Using a mandolin or swivel peeler, slice the courgettes lengthways into long thin ribbons.450 g courgette (zucchini)
- Lay them in a suitably sized airtight container. Glass or stainless steel is best, if you have them.
- Pour the dressing over the top, then seal. Give the container a good shake.
- Marinade at room temperature, or in the fridge for 4-6 hours, giving the container an occasional shake to ensure all the courgette strips are soaking up the flavours.
- Add the herbs just before serving with a spoonful of the marinade and an additional drizzle of olive oil.8 chives, 2 sprig basil
Optional
- To plate up, if serving as a starter, lunch or party salad, pile the ribbons onto a large serving platter, curling them as you go. Use a fork or your fingers to do this. Alternatively, divide between four individual plates and do the same.
- Scatter the herbs over the ribbons then spoon a little of the marinade over the top. Follow with the toasted pine nuts, goat's cheese or both, if using.20 g pine nuts, 40 g soft goat’s cheese
- Drizzle a little extra olive oil over the top and serve.
Notes
Nutrition Estimate
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