Salad has never been my thing. Menu in hand, my beloved gravitates to a salad every time, but not me. I remember dad dismissing anything raw and leafy as ‘rabbit food’ and for years the prejudice stuck. More recently, for the sake of good health, I’ve embraced the leaf with a more open mind. 

The term salad is derived from the Latin sal (salt) and from that salata (salted things). In classical times raw vegetables were eaten with a dressing of oil, vinegar and salt. The word turns up in Old French as salade and then in late 14^th century English as sallet. For centuries the sallet referred to a simple selection of freshly dressed leaves and flowers. 

The 17^th century birthed the era of ‘the grand sallet’. Possible ingredients were multitude and the salad moved from side-dish to hero. Indeed, the first English language book devoted exclusively to salads was published at the century’s end, Robert Evelyn’s Acetaria. According to Evelyn, a salad is “a particular Composition of certain Crude and fresh Herbs, such as usually are, or may safely be eaten with some Acetous Juice, Oyl, & Salt to give them a grateful Gust and Vehicle.” 

A little while back I came across the wonderful Helen Goh’s recipe for a zucchini and green bean salad in which ‘crude and fresh herbs’ play centre stage. The ‘grateful gust and vehicle’ are provided by four of my favourite ingredients: olive oil, preserved lemon, pistachios and honey.

All rabbits aside, it really is quite lovely. 

Here’s what you need  

3 medium zucchini 

300g green beans

1 preserved lemon

A small handful each of fresh mint, parley and dill, roughly chopped

80g pistachio nuts, lightly toasted

50g shaved parmesan

For the dressing: 50mls of lemon juice, 60mls of extra virgin olive oil, 1 tablespoon of runny honey and ½ teaspoon each of sea salt and ground black pepper

Here’s what you do

Using a vegetable peeler or, even better, a mandoline, scrape each zucchini length-wise into fine, long ribbons.

Trim the beans and blanch in boiling water for a minute or two, until just tender. Drain and rest in cold water. 

Slice the preserved lemon into quarters, then scrape away and discard the pulp. Finely chop the rind.

In a large bowl, combine the zucchini, beans, preserved lemon and herbs.

Add all the ingredients for the dressing to a screw-top jar and shake vigorously.

Pour the dressing over the salad and toss gently together.

Heap the salad onto a platter, scatter over the pistachios and shaved parmesan, and you’re good to go!