Cut the base off each head of chicory, so that the leaves come away. Mix the mayonnaise with the mustard and add 2-3 tablespoons of hot water, to loosen it up enough to be able to drizzle over the salad.
Put the chicory leaves in a bowl, season and toss with the vinaigrette.
Put a layer of chicory on each serving plate, followed by a layer of pear, then more chicory. Drizzle with the mayonnaise and, using a potato peeler, shave the Ovinfort over the top.
‘Beautiful, purple, perfect…’
In the restaurant kitchen we get through one box of baby globe artichokes a day when they are in season in the spring – usually carciofi spinosi from Sicilia or the purple violetta di chioggia. They are such beautiful things, less intensely iron-flavoured than the bigger ones, so they make a perfect raw salad. Slice them very thinly, mix with some salad leaves, season with salt and pepper, and dress with a little lemon juice or vinegar and oil mixed with a tablespoon of grated Parmesan. Finish with a handful of chopped chives and some shavings of Parmesan over the top – beautiful.
First, of course, you have to prepare them, which isn’t as complicated as you might think. Start by taking the artichoke in one hand and, leaving the stalk on (because it makes the artichoke look more elegant), snap off and discard each outside leaf in turn, stopping when you get down to the tender, pale green-yellow leaves. Next, with a small sharp paring knife, peel off the stringy outside of the stalk and work around the top of the stalk at the base of the artichoke, trimming and scraping away the base and turning the artichoke as you go. Finally, trim off the pointed tops of the remaining leaves, then cut each artichoke in half lengthways and use a spoon to scoop out and discard the hairy choke from each half (it will be very small, as the artichokes are not fully developed). To prevent the artichokes discolouring, rub them with a halved lemon, then keep them submerged in a bowl of water with a squeeze of lemon juice added (or vitamin C, which you can buy from health food shops) until you are ready to use them.
Something we like to do with baby artichokes is make carciofi fritti. We prepare the artichokes as described above, dust them with hard durum wheat flour, then deep-fry them in moderately hot oil (160°C) until crisp, season and serve straight away.
Another of our favourite starters is Artichoke Salad with Parmesan (see overleaf), which uses both raw and marinated blanched artichokes, prepared in the same way my grandmother used to do them. In our kitchen at home in Corgeno, we always had a jar of preserved artichokes on a cool shelf, ready to use in the winter months when fresh ones were out of season. Homemade marinated artichokes are so much tastier than bought ones that I suggest whenever you are making a recipe that calls for artichokes, you prepare four or five times the quantity you need and preserve the rest (see page 84). Then you will always have some to hand, not only for this salad but also just to serve with prosciutto or salami, or as part of an antipasti.
Insalata di carciofi alla Parmigiana Artichoke salad with Parmesan
The combination of marinated and raw artichokes gives a fantastic contrast of flavour and texture in this salad. If you like, you can add some split chillies (with or without seeds, depending on how chilli-hot you like them) to the marinade to give it an extra kick. The boys in the kitchen always do this for my wife Plaxy because it is her favourite way of eating artichokes. In winter, when you don’t have any fresh artichokes, you can make the salad with ones that have been kept under oil.
Sometimes, if you are lucky, you can find really tiny artichokes, the size of a golf ball. When we get these in the kitchen, we leave them whole and just trim the tops, remove the outer leaves and clean what there is of the stalk. You don’t need to worry about the choke, because there will be nothing there. We blanch them as described in the recipe below, then brush them with olive oil and chargrill them on a hot griddle until they are well marked, to give them a roasted flavour, before marinating them.
10 baby artichokes
200ml white wine
200ml white wine vinegar
juice of ½ lemon
a little olive oil
a good wedge of Parmesan
2 tablespoons Shallot vinaigrette (see page 52)
4 handfuls of mixed green salad
2 tablespoons Giorgio’s vinaigrette (see page 51)
small bunch of chives, cut into batons
salt and pepper
For the marinade:
500ml extra-virgin olive oil
2 black peppercorns
2 juniper berries
2 bay leaves
5 sage leaves
sprig of rosemary
2 garlic cloves, lightly crushed
100ml white wine vinegar
Prepare the artichokes and cut in half as described on page 70, and keep 2 of them to one side. Blanch the remaining artichokes in a mixture of the white wine, white wine vinegar, 200ml water and 2 teaspoons of salt for 3-4 minutes. They should still be quite firm. Drain and leave to cool.
To make the marinade, pour the olive oil into a pan and add all the remaining marinade ingredients except the vinegar. Place over a medium heat (the oil shouldn’t be too hot – just enough to cook the herbs gently). As soon as the herbs start to fry and the garlic starts to turn lightly golden, turn down the heat and stir in the vinegar.
Cut the blanched artichoke halves in half again and put them into the pan. Bring back to the boil, turn off the heat and cool completely.
Slice the 2 reserved artichokes, toss with the lemon juice and a little olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Keep to one side. Grate about 2 tablespoons of Parmesan and set this aside, too.
Spoon the blanched artichokes from their pan (you can save the marinade for next time). Dress with Shallot vinaigrette and arrange on 4 serving plates.
Season the mixed green salad, toss with the grated Parmesan and Giorgio’s vinaigrette, and arrange it on top of the artichokes. Sprinkle the raw artichokes over the top. Shave the rest of the Parmesan and sprinkle that and the chives over the salad to serve.
Insalata di fagiolini, cipolle rosse e Parmigiano Green bean salad with roast red onion and Parmesan
You can prepare the onions for this salad a few hours before you need them – or even the day before – to improve the flavour. It is important that they are quite soft, not crunchy.