Grilled Summer Salad and Fried Baby Artichokes

I digressed from my original plan for Tuesday night dinner. No worries I didn't run to the store or cannibalize any of the other meals for the week. And let me tell you, it was worth changing it up. Not sure what prompted me to do this other than that I felt like fried baby artichokes (forgot I bought those when I made the menu) and I felt like grilling. First, the friend baby artichokes (yes, I fry occassionally and these are delish and I eat them about once a year in my own house and about 2 times a year at my friends parent's house - moderation is key).

Fried Baby Artichokes

Serves 2

2/3 cup flour

1 1/4 cup water

good pinch of salt

good amount of fresh ground pepper

good quality olive oil

1 dozen baby artichokes, peeled until you get to the tender leaves, trim top and bottom and cut in half. You can put in a bowl of cold lemon water if you don't want them to turn brown.

Mix the flour, water and seasoning together so the consistency is viscous, but not watery - the artichokes have to stick. Toss the artichokes in and get them nicely covered (not drenched).

Warm the olive oil in a heavy bottom pot. Test the oil temp by dropping a bit of the batter in - it should bubble a bit around the edges but not go black immediately. Fry each side of the artichoke until nice and golden. Remove onto a plate with a paper towel and sprinkle with a bit of fine sea salt or kosher salt, and if you like, pecorino romano cheese grated on top.

Grilled Summer Salad

Serves 2

1 zucchini, thinly sliced length wise

1 head radicchio, cut into quarters leaving the stem

1 tomato, cut into wedges

1/2 cucumber, cut into thick slices

1/4 cup chopped parsley

8 olives

pecorino romano (optional)

Sprinkle a reasonable amount of olive oil over the zucchini and radicchio and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Grill the zucchini until just tender (under done and it is too crunchy, over done you get soggy and flavorless). Grill the radicchio until just wilted on the outer leaves.

Chop the radicchio and remove the hard stem portion.

Arange however you like - I chose to sort of build all the ingredients up on top of each other. Throw the parsley on at the end and grate a bit of pecorino over the top.

The salad was a big hit tonight in the LL household. The flavors were fresh, light, yet flavorful and filling. There is a variety of color, crunchy and leafy vegetables. I also want to highlight that I still use ingredients like cheese, but I pick a good quality one that I love, and use it sparingly to just give a little kick to the dish.

Try it!