Brin Pirathapan: Courgette Crunch

Preheat the oven to 180°C fan/200°C/400°F/gas mark 6.

Place the bread cubes in a roasting tin. Drizzle with a healthy glug of olive oil, toss to coat and then roast in the oven until crispy, about 20 minutes, turning halfway through. Set aside.

Meanwhile, cut the courgettes using the cut-and-roll technique below:

CUT & ROLL

This is a great technique to give your vegetables more shape and character. No one wants to always eat a circular disc of carrot – it’s just not appealing, but this method gives you interesting shapes that look enticing and hold a bit more structure when cooked.

1. Prep your vegetable if needed i.e. peel a carrot.

2. Place the long vegetable on your board and place the knife at an angle, a couple of centimetres from the tip. Make a cut, then roll the vegetable about 90 degrees but keep the knife at the same angle. Cut again. Repeat this process until you reach the end of the vegetable.

3. You’ll be left with a variety of pieces, no two the same shape but roughly in a pyramid-like shape.

Add 1 tablespoon of the olive oil to a large frying pan and place over a medium-high heat. Place the courgettes, flesh side down, in the pan and cook until slightly coloured/charred, then flip to the other side. Season both sides of the courgettes as they cook. Once both sides are coloured, about 8 minutes altogether, add to a large mixing bowl. You may have to do this in two batches.

Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the same frying pan along with the asparagus and cook over a high heat until slightly charred and a more vibrant green colour. This will take 4–5 minutes. Add these to the mixing bowl as well.

Add the lemon zest to the bowl, then crumble in the feta as well. Chiffonade (see below)  the mint leaves and add to the bowl.

CHIFFONADE

This is the technique used to create tiny little ribbons of fresh herbs that can be sprinkled over or throughout dishes.

1. Start by picking individual leaves (this works especially well for herbs like basil and mint).

2. Stack them on top of each other and as neatly as you can so you have a pile of about 10 leaves.

3. Starting on one side, roll the stack of leaves into a tight scroll.

4. Hold the scroll together with your non-dominant hand just as you would hold anything you were about to slice.

5. Using a rocking motion with your knife, cut small slithers of the scroll about 1 mm/1/32 inch thick. As always, keep the fingers of your non-dominant hand in a claw position and use your knuckles as a point to glide the knife’s body along to give stability and prevent you from cutting your fingers.

Add the pistachios to a small dry frying pan and toast them over a medium heat for 3 minutes, moving them around every minute. When they’re done, roughly chop them into small pieces (about half their original size).

Make the hot dressing. Add all the dressing ingredients to a small saucepan over a medium heat and allow the mixture to boil for a minute, then take it off the heat.

Add the sourdough croutons to the veg bowl along with the toasted pistachios. Cover everything in the hot dressing, then mix it all together and serve.