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 #
- 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.
- 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.
- For the salad, dice half the zucchini and sauté in olive oil.
- 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.
- Wash and halve or quarter the cherry tomatoes.
- 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 56 recipes published on the blog so far in terms of estimated carbon footprint.
In other words, this is the recipe with the second-lowest climate impact published here! 🥈🥳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.
ingredient | carbon footprint per kg | carbon footprint (in g) for 2 servings | % of ingredients | % of CO2 emissions |
---|---|---|---|---|
Orzo | 0.7 | 105 | 22% | 18% |
Cherry tomatoes | 0.9 | 90 | 15% | 15% |
Zucchini | 0.2 | 20 | 15% | 3% |
Oil | 3.2 | 32 | 1% | 5% |
Salt | 0.7 | 1 | 0% | 0% |
Parsley | 1.0 | 10 | 1% | 2% |
Coriander | 1.1 | 6 | 1% | 1% |
Garlic | 0.4 | 2 | 1% | 0% |
Olive oil | 3.2 | 64 | 3% | 11% |
Vinegar | 1.4 | 14 | 1% | 2% |
Oregano | 1.1 | 3 | 0% | 1% |
Cumin | 1.1 | 2 | 0% | 0% |
Chili powder | 1.1 | 2 | 0% | 0% |
Salt | 0.7 | 1 | 0% | 0% |
Zucchini | 0.2 | 40 | 29% | 7% |
Salt | 0.7 | 1 | 0% | 0% |
Flour | 0.9 | 18 | 3% | 3% |
Olive oil | 3.2 | 128 | 6% | 22% |
Orzo cooking | 43 | 7% | ||
Fry the zucchinis | 11 | 2% |