It tastes like Spring

Spring is all about crunchy vegetables from broad beans, to artichokes, to peas and zucchini and lots of leafy herbs like chives, mint and basil. And the beauty of all of these vegetables is that you need to do very little to them to make them taste delicious. They are best when cooked quickly, which enhances their natural flavors, and dressed with a little salt and olive oil, maybe some lemon juice. I make this salad on repeat every time basil starts to bloom. It’s the perfect vehicle for peas, which are super underrated. When blanched, they are sweet and crunchy and make an excellent addition to pasta and salads like this one.

Cooking time: 1 hour
Serves 3-4

100g mixed salad leaves
250g buffalo mozzarella
1 cup frozen peas
400g tin cannellini beans
4 small lemons
500g packet of frozen artichokes, defrosted (You want to leave the artichokes to defrost the night before making this. Or if you are in a hurry you can soak the bag in a bowl of warm water for an hour or two before cooking)
fresh thyme
3 whole cloves of garlic
Good quality olive oil
Sea salt flakes
Handful of Basil
Small handful of pine nuts (optional)
Ice blocks & chilled water

Cut the artichokes in half, then place in a glass roasting dish and top with the thyme, juice of two of the lemons and a generous amount of salt flakes and three tablespoons of olive oil. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees. Use the back of a knife to squash the garlic cloves, but leave them in their skin, then add to the artichokes. Use your hands to massage the mixture into the artichokes.

Roast for around 40 minutes until golden, shaking the pan during cooking to make sure they get colored on all sides. Take the artichokes from the oven and leave aside to cool. Wash the cannellini beans and set aside to dry. When the cannellini are dry mix them into the dish of artichokes squeezing the roasted garlic cloves out of their skins at the same time so they get coated with the garlic, thyme and oil flavors. Wash the salad leaves and then dry thoroughly using a tea towel. Bring a small pot of water to the boil and add a pinch of salt flakes. Add peas to the boiling water and cook for 3 minutes. While that’s happening put the ice blocks and cold water in a bowl. Drain the peas and then blanch by dropping them in the icy water for 5 minutes. Drain peas on a tea towel until they are dry.

If using, toast the pine nuts in a heated frying pan for around 2 minutes until they start to turn golden. Dress salad leaves with around 2 tablespoons of olive oil, the juice of the remaining lemons and more salt flakes. Use your hands to make sure everything is well coated and taste to check the seasoning. Arrange the leaves on a large flat salad plate, then layer the cannellini beans over the leaves, followed by the artichokes and peas. Then tear the mozzarella balls into pieces on top. Sprinkle the pine nuts and basil over. Drizzle a little more olive oil over the salad before serving.

Secrets to making this recipe work

Herbs: Buy the basil as close to when you are using it so that it is fresh. Basil is a finicky herb and if left in the wrong conditions will start to go bad fast. The best way to keep it fresh is to store it with the stems immersed in a glass of water in the middle shelf of the fridge where it won't be too cold. And don’t throw out the stems, keep them stored in the fridge to use later to flavor pasta sauces. Thyme is a great staple to have around the kitchen and it stays fresh for some time. To store, hang the bunch with some string in a cool dark corner of your kitchen.

Peas and artichokes: Sometimes I use freshly shelled peas for this recipe, but mostly I stick with frozen peas and artichoke tops.  They save a lot of work.