Warm artichoke and asparagus summer salad
Warm artichoke & asparagus summer salad
This dish is all about vegetables at the peak of their season
- Prep: 1 hrs
Cook: 30 mins - Serves 4
- Moderately easy
Ingredients
- 4 artichokes, trimmed
- 2 lemons, halved
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp coriander seeds
- 1 star anise
- large thyme sprig
- 4 tbsp white wine vinegar
- large bunch (about 30) asparagus spears
- 4 handfuls small salad leaves such as micro-leaves
- 5 tbsp olive oil
- 1 small red onion, finely chopped
- 2 spring onions, finely sliced
- small bunch chives, finely snipped
- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar (I like to use white balsamic vinegar)
Tip
Preparing the artichokes involves
a bit of work but they can be cooked
and left in the cooking liquid up
to two days before. The asparagus
can be boiled and chilled the day
before and both vegetables can be
chopped, ready for frying, several
hours before serving. As the dressing
contains onion, it is best made
just one hour before serving.
Tip
Micro-leaves (also known as
micro-herbs) are tiny little herb
and salad leaf shoots. Their intense
flavour lifts warm vegetable dishes
like this and adds another element
to the finished dish. Micro-leaves
are now available from some
supermarkets, but if you can’t find
them, scatter over a few wild rocket
leaves or tender sprigs of watercress.
Tip
When you prepare artichokes, the
metallic flavour of the raw vegetable
is transferred to your fingers. Scrub
your hands well afterwards, as the
flavour is rather unpleasant.
Tip
To test if the artichoke is cooked,
insert a skewer or the point of a
small knife into the centre – there
should be very little resistance. If it
feels a little hard, keep simmering;
check again after each minute or so.
Tip
Once cut, artichokes oxidise
very quickly, which makes them
discolour. So keep on rubbing the
green flesh with lemon to stop this
happening, especially the inner
part of the artichoke once you
have removed the hairy fibres. In
my restaurant kitchens, we keep
the uncooked, prepared artichokes
in water with vitamin C powder
(ascorbic acid) added – this doesn’t
flavour the water – but a squeezed
lemon works just as well.
Method
-
When the artichokes are trimmed, find a pan wide enough to hold them in a single layer. Squeeze in juice from a lemon half and half-fill with cold water. Add 2 tbsp olive oil, the spices, thyme, vinegar, artichokes and a generous pinch of salt. Bring to the boil, then lower the heat and simmer for about 15 mins until soft. Turn off the heat and allow to cool (see tips, below).
-
Prepare the asparagus. First, cut off the woody ends, then use a swivel blade peeler to trim the ends, rotating them as you go so they end up the same thickness as the tips.
-
Bring a large pan of salted water to a rolling boil. Cook the asparagus for 2 mins, then drain and tip straight into heavily iced water. Leave until completely cool, drain again, then set aside.
-
To make the dressing, heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a frying pan , then gently cook the red onion for 5 mins until soft. Turn off the heat stir in the spring onion and chives, then tip into a jug. Drizzle the rest of the oil and the vinegar into the dressing, then season to taste.
-
Get the vegetables ready. Drain the artichokes, then cut each into 6 wedges. Slice each asparagus on the angle into 3 pieces.
-
Wipe out the dressing pan and heat the remaining olive oil. Fry the asparagus with some seasoning until shiny and starting to colour, then scoop onto a plate. Place the pan back on the heat, then cook the artichoke wedges until they start to brown. Turn off the heat and you are ready to plate up.
-
Spoon a puddle of dressing into the centre of each plate. Balance the pieces of asparagus up against each other to circle the dressing. Arrange the artichokes among the asparagus so they’re evenly distributed over the plate. Scatter over the salad leaves and drizzle over the remaining dressing.
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