Salad of thinly sliced artichoke hearts that have been slowly poached in garlic infused olive oil and tossed with herbs.
Do you like artichoke hearts? We do! Please welcome Hank Shaw as he shares this delectable artichoke salad recipe. ~Elise
One of my favorite artichoke heart recipes, this is a simple salad that is great on a warm spring afternoon.
Yes, it does use a lot of oil, but you can reuse it. Just put it in the fridge and use the oil for salad dressings or to fry something else in – it will add a certain “artichokiness” to your next dish.
Oil keeps its heat well, so use that to your advantage here: Undercook the artichoke hearts, then keep them in the hot oil until it cools. You run a far less risk of turning them into mush that way.
Oil-Poached Artichoke Heart Salad Recipe
- Prep time: 25 minutes
- Cook time: 45 minutes
- Yield: Serves 4
The seasonings are a guide here: If you’d rather toss the ‘chokes with something else, go for it.
Ingredients
- 3 large artichoke hearts
- Salt
- Lots of extra virgin olive oil
- 2 smashed garlic cloves
- Juice of 2 lemons
- 1 tablespoon minced parsley
- 1 tablespoon minced chives
- Black pepper
Method
1 Trim your artichokes: (see How to Trim an Artichoke). Once they are trimmed, slice lengthwise into pieces roughly ¼ inch thick. You want them to look like silhouettes of an artichoke heart.
2 Bathe the slices in a bowl of lemon juice.
3 Heat garlic in olive oil: Get a large, heavy pot with a lid and pour in a layer of olive oil. Add the smashed garlic cloves and turn the heat to low.
4 Add salted artichoke heart slices to the oil: Take some artichoke heart slices out of the lemon juice and salt them well. Slip them into the olive oil in layers, adding more olive oil to cover. You will probably need about a pint or so of olive oil – it is very important they are completely covered.
Do not use cheap vegetable oil (corn, canola, etc) as a substitute because you will definitely taste the olive oil in the final dish. You could use melted butter, though…
5 Heat on low: Cover the pot and cook on the lowest heat of your weakest burner for 45 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the oil cool for another 20-30 minutes.
6 Remove from oil and toss with remaining ingredients: To make the salad, just remove the artichokes from the oil and toss with the remaining ingredients. You can eat the garlic or not, but it is just there to flavor the oil.
Serve at room temperature. It keeps for several days in the fridge.
