Artichoke and Blood Orange Salad
2 small heads frisee, removed from base and cleaned
1/4 C coarsely chopped flat leaf parsley
for the pickled artichokes
8 artichoke hearts, cut into eighths (held in acidulated water)
150 gm white wine vinegar
1.5 gm gelatin (optional -- don't bother if you have a chamber vac)
1 quarter preserved lemon, rind only, coarsely chopped.
4 cardamom pods, crushed
2 cloves garlic, crushed
for the blood oranges
4 blood oranges
1 tsp ground cardamom
for the vinaigrette
2 tbsp mustard seed oil
1 tsp red wine vinegar
fleur du sel
black pepper
First, make the pickled artichoke hearts.
This is actually a pretty spectacular method for doing sous vide cooking with liquidy contents inside the vacuum sealed bag without having a hugely expensive chamber vacuum sealer. Ordinarily, a FoodSaver or other normal, affordable home vacuum sealer can't seal up anything that isn't pretty dry, because the liquid gums up the works (as it were).
To solve this problem, we hit upon the idea of gelling the liquid with gelatin, since gelatin is thermoreversible and melts back into liquid when heated. This turns the liquid into a solid during the vacuum-sealing stage, and back into a liquid during the cooking stage. A perfect solution to all of life's problems!
1. Bring the vinegar and gelatin to a boil, then refrigerate it until it is set.
2. Make a sachet with the cardamom, garlic, and lemon.
3. Add gelled vinegar, spice sachet, and artichoke hearts to a vacuum bag and seal.
4. Cook at 185 F for 40-75 minutes, until somewhat tender.
Next, prepare the blood orange.
1. Supreme the blood oranges by cutting off the peel to create a whole skinless fruit, then cutting segments of fruit out from between the layers of membrane. There are some great visual instructions on how to supreme citrus here.
2. Toss the blood orange segments with the cardamom.
Finally, construct the salad.
1. Whick together the vinaigrette, and toss with the parsley and frisee.
2. Top with blood orange segments (cold), artichokes (warm), salt, and freshly ground pepper to taste.
3. Serve immediately.
