Asparagus and artichokes are in season and this is the best time to relish both. Greeks enjoy eating these particular vegetables and we cook them in many ways, salads, omelettes, braised or in pies – as you may remember we enjoyed an artichoke pie in our last post.

Today we’ve got a wonderful spring salad in which we combine the two vegetables. This time the artichokes have been marinated beforehand. It is very common to marinate vegetables here in Greece in order to preserve them. Marinated artichokes are delicious and can be made at home or purchased at a food store.

Let’s go and make our salad.

Ingredients

Yields 4

1 red onion finely sliced

1 garlic clove finely chopped

½ kilo wild asparagus (if unable to be found then use purple asparagus, which you’ll cut in half vertically) in any case cut the hard ends off

1 jar marinated artichokes cut in half or quarters- depends on the size

½ kilo cherry tomatoes cut in half

1/3 cup esti extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon esti balsamic vinegar

Preheat the oven at 180 degrees. Lay the asparagus on an oven tray that has been lined with a sheet of foil. Coat with a bit of olive oil, salt and let roast for 5-8 minutes until tender.

When roasted remove from the oven and cut into bite pieces.

Put cherry tomatoes, onions, asparagus and artichokes in a large bowl. Mix them all together.

Whisk together remaining olive oil, balsamic vinegar and garlic. Pour over vegetables. Taste for salt and serve with a nice Greek rosé wine!