Chargrilled Artichoke Hearts With Parmesan And Winter Leaves

By Sophie Dahl

One of the more depressing things about a winter in England is the dearth of green. But those winter greens do exist and there is something comforting about them, the promise of Spring coming soon.

Photography by Jan Baldwin
  • Serves: 2

Ingredients

  • 4 large artichoke hearts, quartered
  • Mixed winter leaves – chicory and radicchio work well here
  • 60g/½ a cup of thinly sliced radishes
  • A good hunk of Parmesan, slivered
  • 2 tablespoons of toasted pine nuts

For the dressing

  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 2 tablespoons of olive oil
  • A handful of fresh chopped mint

Method

  1. First, the artichokes – you can either buy them already chargrilled from a good supermarket or deli, or you can buy four artichokes, steam then in a pan for 20 minutes, remove the hearts and pop them under a hot grill with some olive oil for 8 minutes. The choice is entirely yours.
  2. Arrange the leaves and radishes on two plates. Make the dressing by combining the lemon juice, olive oil and fresh mint. Put the artichoke hearts and Parmesan on top of the leaves, dress and add the toasted pine nuts.