Crispy Zucchini and Orzo Salad with Chimichurri

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If there was a chimichurri fan club, I’d join it in a heartbeat! The Argentinian sauce is usually served with grilled beef, but it’s also great with a wide range of other dishes - for example, it livens up a simple pasta salad with its freshness, the slight spiciness of the garlic and the many herbs.

Instead of regular pasta, we use orzo, a Greek pasta made from durum wheat semolina in the form of oversized rice grains, which is sometimes also sold as “kritharaki”. They still have a pleasant bite even after cooking.

The salad is the star here here, with the zucchini taking a back seat to the power of the chimichurri. Turning the zucchinis briefly in oil before frying makes them particularly crispy and tasty.

The zucchinis are based on a simple recipe from the lovely blog Zitronen & Olivenöl (Lemons & Olive Oil), and the orzo salad with chimichurri is originally from the food blog Budget Bytes.

Recipe #

Crispy zucchinis and orzo salad with chimichurri

40 minutes

2 portions

Ingredients #

For the orzo salad

• 150 g orzo
• 100 g cherry tomatoes
• half a zucchini
• 10 g oil
• 1 g salt
• … and the chimichurri - see below

For the chimichurri

• 10 g parsley
• 5 g coriander
• 2 small cloves of garlic
• 20 g olive oil
• 10 g vinegar
• 3 g dried oregano
• 2 g cumin
• 2 g chili powder
• 2 g salt

For the crispy zucchini

• 1 zucchini
• 1 pinch of salt
• 2 tablespoons of flour
• 40 g olive oil for frying

Directions #

1. First prepare the orzo: boil the orzo with a pinch of salt and double the amount of water, then cook over a low heat according to the instructions on the packet.
2. Meanwhile, prepare the chimichurri: Wash and chop the fresh parsley and coriander. Peel and chop the garlic, then place in a bowl with the parsley, coriander, oil, vinegar and spices and blend.
3. For the salad, dice half the zucchini and sauté in olive oil.
4. Cut the whole zucchini into thin slices. Mix the salt and flour in a shallow dish and add the zucchini slices. Fry in plenty of olive oil until golden brown. Drain on kitchen paper.
5. Wash and halve or quarter the cherry tomatoes.
6. Mix the orzo with the zucchini, cherry tomatoes and chimichurri, then season with salt. Serve with the fried zucchini slices.

Carbon Footprint #

In total, two servings of crispy zucchini and orzo salad with chimichurri have an estimated carbon footprint of 593 g.

This ranks it number 2 out of 53 recipes published on the blog so far in terms of estimated carbon footprint.

Compared to the reference recipes, all of which have an estimated carbon footprint of over 3800g, this dish has almost 85% fewer emissions.

When it comes to the individual ingredients, the oil and zucchinis stand out: Olive oil accounts for only about 10% of the ingredients, but almost 40% of the climate impact. On the other hand, zucchini account for almost half of the weight of the ingredients, but only about 10% of the estimated carbon footprint.

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