Mounds of colorful roasted artichoke salad, drizzled with basil vinaigrette, sat on a bed of fresh mixed greens. With roasted red peppers and artichokes hearts, capers, red onion, and parsley leaves, this salad made a perfect side dish for my mom’s Italian-themed birthday celebration. Don’t limit this spectacular salad to Italian dinners, though. You’ll want to serve this versatile dish at al fresco dinner parties, family barbecues, holiday brunches, and more!
Roasted Artichoke Salad
Recipe courtesy of Ina Garten
INGREDIENTS
4 boxes (9 ounces each) frozen artichoke hearts, defrosted
Good olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 shallot, minced
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
5 tablespoons white wine vinegar or champagne vinegar, divided
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
6 tablespoons capers, drained
2 roasted red peppers, sliced thin
1/2 cup minced red onion
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
2 pinches hot red pepper flakes, optional
DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Place the artichoke hearts in a bowl with 1/4 cup olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and toss until the artichoke hearts are coated. Dump the artichoke hearts onto a sheet pan and spread out into 1 layer; roast in the oven for 20 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, make the vinaigrette. Place the minced shallot, lemon juice, mustard, 1 tablespoon vinegar, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Process for 5 seconds. Add the basil leaves and process into a green puree. With the processor running, slowly pour 1/2 cup olive oil into the bowl through the feed tube until the ingredients are finely pureed. Set aside.
4. Place the roasted artichoke hearts in a bowl and toss with enough vinaigrette to moisten. Add the capers, red peppers, red onion, parsley, 4 tablespoons vinegar and red pepper flakes, if using, and toss gently. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper and let stand for 30 minutes for the flavors to blend. Serve at room temperature.
Serves 6
LINNELL’S NOTES
1. I couldn’t find frozen artichoke hearts, so I substituted canned. I let the artichokes drain in a colander. Before using, I gently squeezed any excess liquid from them.
2. I doubled the recipe, but probably should not have doubled the salt. I normally eat a low-sodium diet, so this recipe seemed a bit salty to me, especially with the addition of the capers, which I rinsed and drained first. I used one 4-ounce jar of capers, which amounted to 7 tablespoons of capers. The doubled amount would have been 12 tablespoons worth of capers.
3. If you double this recipe, make sure you roast it in a single layer in two separate baking sheets.
4. To get a good roast on the artichokes, I needed to roast them 30 minutes longer than specified.
5. In step 4, I cut the amount of vinegar by half and did not add any additional salt.
6. Although the photo doesn’t show it, one of my favorite ways to serve this salad is on a rectangular serving platter. Place a mound of greens lengthwise on the platter and then mound the artichoke salad on top of the greens. Additional basil vinaigrette may be drizzled on top.
7. I made this salad the day before the party. Because it can be made ahead of time, it is a great salad for entertaining.
Enjoy!
