I modified this recipe for seared artichoke heart salad from a recipe in “Mississippi Vegan” by Timothy Pakron. I don’t usually choose to cook anything with canned vegetables, but in this case, and when it comes to artichokes, it is certainly less labor-intensive to use the canned version rather than attempting to steam them whole and then dissect out the hearts.
These pan-fried artichoke hearts are seared and then tossed with olive oil, garlic, and green onions. The key ingredient and selling point for me was the castelvetrano olives. Other than kalamata olives, castelvetrano olives are high up on my list of essential ingredients and musts for a well-supplied pantry.
Olives are fantastically diverse and versatile. They can be sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and or pungent adding new dimensions to vegetables, drinks, meats, and appetizers.
I love the salty earthy taste that comes from making olive spreads like tapenade. Olives can be tossed into a chopped salad and stirred into hot dishes such as Italian chard and moroccan chicken.
And of course, let’s not forget, olives are perfect as the finishing touch in a vodka or gin martini.
The only prep required for this recipe is peeling and chopping garlic and slicing green onions. The artichoke hearts are seared in olive oil in a hot skillet. Then they are tossed with garlic, green onions and freshly squeezed lemon juice.
Finally, the crushed and halved castelvetrano olives are added to the artichokes to bind the ingredients together with that earthy salty flavor.
As Timothy Patron recommends, “if you have fresh herbs, add them” to the artichoke salad. I added oregano and parsley. I decided not to use my rosemary because it did not seem to blend with the other ingredients.
You can prepare and have this savory salad on the table in 30 minutes or less.
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