Vegan labneh, radish top sauce, courgette and broad bean salad

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Joey O'Hare served a summery courgette salad with a creamy vegan labneh recipe, radish top sauce and broad beans in a minty, bright dish that is full of flavours fit for a sunny day.

First published in 2017

The dressing here is a take on a ‘salsa verde’, which makes use of the radish leaves. Use the larger radish leaves in the sauce, and the smaller ones to garnish – their flavour is beautiful, refreshing and peppery. I’d lovingly grown these radishes myself, and couldn’t bear to waste an inch of them – hence the nose-to-tail, zero-waste approach!

The salad itself is crunchy, zingy and wonderfully fresh thanks to the mint running through the courgette ribbons, and radish top sauce drizzled on top. It makes a beautiful contrast to the cool, creamy and tangy vegan labneh. Holding the sliced radish in iced water for a few minutes before serving maximizes the crunchy texture enormously. This salad is best served slightly chilled.

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Vegan labneh

  • 125g of cashew nuts, soaked for 3 hours in cold water
  • 1 tsp nutritional yeast
  • 1 large lemon, juiced (or 1 1/2 smaller lemons)
  • 115ml of water
  • 1 pinch of sea salt

Radish top sauce

  • 1 handful of radish leaves, fresh
  • 1 tbsp of white wine vinegar
  • 6 tbsp of olive oil
  • 1 pinch of sea salt

Salad

Equipment

  • High-power blender

Method

1
Drain the soaked cashews and tip them into a high-powered blender along with all the other labneh ingredients
2
Purée on the highest setting until totally smooth (you may need to scrape down the edges once or twice). If you feel it needs a little extra water to get going, only add a tablespoons at a time – it should be thick and velvety, but will firm up further in the fridge
3
Blend the radish tops with the olive oil, white wine vinegar and sea salt to make the dressing. Taste and adjust the seasoning if you like, perhaps adding a squeeze of lemon if necessary
4
Pod the broad beans and blanch in rapidly boiling water for 45 seconds. Drain the beans and immediately shock in iced water. Remove the beans from their skins and set aside
5
Finely slice the radishes and submerge in a little iced water to crisp up
6
Use a vegetable peeler to make courgette ribbons. Finely chop the mint. Combine the courgette ribbons, broad beans, sliced radish, mint, olive oil, lemon juice and seasoning in a mixing bowl and toss together gently
7
Spoon some labneh onto each serving plate, top with a generous tangle of the salad and a few spoonfuls of the radish top dressing

Joey has worked as a chef for ten years, both in London restaurants and in private homes across the UK and abroad. Joey’s latest project, Food with Time, explores ideas of sustainability within the food and farming industries, as well as the importance of a seasonal, veg-centric diet for both the environment and the individual.

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