Pescatarian Basil-Pesto Radish & Cucumber Salad
This vibrant salad is a celebration of fresh, garden-forward flavors — crisp cucumber rounds and peppery radish slices brought together by a bright, herb-packed basil pesto that you blitz together in minutes. The homemade pesto skips pine nuts and cheese entirely, leaning instead on fresh basil, parsley, garlic, and a generous pour of extra-virgin olive oil for a sauce that's loose, vivid, and full of life. A quick salt-and-rest step draws out excess moisture from the vegetables first, so the pesto clings to every slice instead of pooling at the bottom of the bowl. The lemon juice keeps everything tasting sharp and clean, cutting right through the richness of the olive oil. It comes together with almost no cooking, making it the kind of dish you can pull off on a warm evening when turning on the stove feels like a hard no. Scatter a few torn basil leaves over the top before serving and it looks genuinely stunning on a table — effortless but impressive.
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Learn more →Ingredients
4 servings
For the pesto
- 2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
- ¼ cup fresh parsley leaves
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled
- ⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- ½ tsp fine sea salt
For the salad
- 2 medium english cucumbers, thinly sliced into rounds
- 1 bunch radishes (about 10–12), thinly sliced
- ¼ tsp fine sea salt
For serving
- 2 tbsp fresh basil leaves, torn (optional)
Instructions
- 1
Place the cucumber rounds and sliced radishes in a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle with 1/4 tsp salt, toss to coat, and let stand for 10 minutes until the vegetables release some of their liquid.
- 2
While the vegetables rest, combine the basil leaves, parsley, garlic, lemon juice, and sea salt in a food processor. Pulse 8–10 times until the herbs are roughly chopped.
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