I can count with one hand the number of times my husband and I have argued in the past 15 years. And our first – and most ridiculous – argument had to do with artichokes. Many years ago, while living in Montreal, we’d shop at the fruit and veg market every weekend. One fine day, he brought home purple baby artichokes. At the time, having already become somewhat of a kitchen nazi, without consulting him, I took it upon myself to prepare these little guys. Being half-Belgian, my idea of artichokes was to boil and serve them up with a vinaigrette, like it’s often done with the big globe variety. However, I wasn’t sure how to approach these smaller ones. Grill and marinate them? Roast them in the oven or fry them in a pan? That’s when he came in and said nicely “Of course not, in Southern France, these are cut up finely and served raw with olive oil dressing.” Say what? Raw? Artichokes? Is that even edible? Nope, don’t think so, ain’t doing it. Looking back, I was quite stubborn about the whole thing and we got into our first argument. I kid you not, we fought over it. I grudgingly tried making this “salad” with no particular technique or recipe and the only memorable thing about the finished product was how hard it was too chew. In the end, we made up, but let’s be clear: artichokes became a taboo subject at our house.
Fast-forward about 8 years, a wedding and two children later, we were living in Nice and having a romantic dinner at La Petite Maison (yes, the original restaurant that inspired the opening of La Petite Maison in DIFC). Amongst the Nicois specialities was…drum roll…”Salade d’Artichauts”. So he ordered it. And that’s when I finally understood what my dearest husband had tried to make me discover years ago: a delightfully tender, tangy salad with just the right amount of crunch. Since, I have recreated it a few times and it’s as good as I remember it. So with no further ado, here is the recipe, hope you like it as much as we do.
IMPORTANT TIPS!!
- Get small purple artichokes. In Dubai, you can order them online at Secrets Fine Food or sometimes at Markets and Platters.
- Don’t even think of attempting this with big globe artichokes
- Accept the fact that you end up throwing out half the leaves – that’s just the reality of preparing these artichokes no matter what you do with them
- Follow the artichoke trimming instructions below carefully
Serves 4 as an appetizer
Ingredients
- 16 purple baby artichokes
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- Juice of 2 lemons
- 2 tbsp Dijon mustard
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1/3 cup of parmesan shavings
Instructions
Trimming the artichokes
- Working with one baby artichoke at a time, pull off and discard the tough outer leaves until you get to the ones that are softer ( this is where you end up feeling like you are throwing out half the leaves)
- Cut off and discard the dark purple and medium green tops of the remaining leaves (about the halfway point)
- Cut off and discard the stem end. Cut the artichoke in half lengthwise.
- To keep it from turning dark brown, immerse it in a big bowl of water in which you have put the juice of 1 lemon. Repeat with the remaining baby artichokes. Once you have trimmed them all, take them out of the water one by one and slice them thinly (about 2 or 3 mm) lengthwise with a sharp knife
Assemble the salad
- In a separate bowl, mix the olive oil, remaining lemon juice, mustard, salt and pepper
- Place the artichokes on a serving plate, drizzle the dressing all over
- Garnish with the parmesan shavings and serve
