This artichoke salad with fresh tomatoes (Short Girl, Tall Order) is a lovely fresh salad using seasonal produce, that’s very easy to make. Inspired by Tuscany in Italy, it’s made with cherry tomatoes, onion, artichoke hearts, tinned chickpeas, capers and homemade dressing.
Read up on food safety for people and pets. Bin onion scraps, as acid can harm compost creatures.
Just mix all the chopped ingredients and marinate for a couple of hours in the fridge, before serving.
Capers are popular in Italy, they are kind of pickled flower buds that give a tangy salty flavour to recipes. Also served with pasta, they kind of taste like pickled olives.
This recipe makes a homemade dressing. If you prefer to simplify things with ready-made salad dressing, we like A Little Bit (made in Kent, these dressings are all vegan-friendly and include a fresh parsley dressing with red onion, which would suit this salad perfectly).
To skin a tomato, place a small cross in the bottom, cover with boiling water for 30 seconds, drain and pour cold water over. Due to lycopene (a red phytochemical) they are good for prostate issues – if you get up all night to pee, try a tomato soup or salad.
Pasta with Fresh Spinach & Artichokes
Pasta with spinach & artichokes (Short Girl, Tall Order) makes use of fresh spinach and canned artichokes, so is super-simple and quick to cook. Like all good Italian recipes, this begins by sauteeing garlic and onion in oil. The ‘cream sauce’ is made with oat milk and cornstarch, and the basil combined with pine nuts, gives a pesto-type flavour.
Spinach is high in vitamin K, potassium and oxalic acid, so check medication and avoid for kidney stones/disease. Avoid basil for bleeding disorders or low blood pressure (it can slow blood clotting).
After preparing the vegetables and herbs, strain the tinned artichoke hearts and chickpeas, then just mix up and add a homemade dressing (oil, vinegar, garlic powder, parsley, salt and pepper). Add capers or olives for an Italian twist.
Olive oil is better for salad dressings health-wise than for cooking (rapeseed oil is better). Having said that, Italians and Greeks tend to be healthier than us (often simply because they eat more vegetables).
But for a salad, good cold-pressed extra-virgin olive oil can’t be beat. Some people say we should not eat oil at all (and get all fat from real foods – i.e olives over olive oil). There are debates!
