This week’s 52 Weeks of Cooking challenge was one I have been waiting for ever since Tom and I took our first ever cooking class: Salads. The salad made in our cooking class was Artichoke, Prosciutto and Frisee Salad with Shaved Fennel in Lemon Vinaigrette. (Though looking back over the recipe, there is no lemon in the dressing. I wonder if the instructor forgot to add it into the recipe.) Since I don’t have a link to an online recipe, I have included a list of ingredients below…with some added notes.
Salad
2 x 3 oz packages prosciutto slices – cut into strips
1 Fennel bulb – trim fronds and remove core
1 box Frisee – tear into bite-sized pieces
2 Lemons – halved (These are only used to stop the artichokes from turning brown so lemon juice is fine.)
3 Artichokes
Dressing
1 Shallot – chopped (In hindsight, I would probably only use 1/4-1/2. It was extremely strong.)
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp Honey
1 tbsp White Wine or Champagne Vinegar (We didn’t have either so used Apple Cider Vinegar. It seemed to work well.)
3-4 tbsp Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste
As this was a salad, and salads mostly just require tossing everything into a bowl, it was pretty simple to make. First though, cut the prosciutto into thin strips and bake in the oven for about 5-7 minutes. They are done when they are crispy. (Sorry, no picture of this step.)
While the prosciutto is baking, begin slicing your fennel. The recipe suggested using a mandolin slicer, however since we did not have one, we used a grater, and just made sure to do long strips instead of grating it like a carrot. (Tom got a little overenthusiastic and ended up with a pile of mushy gratings, but there was enough to salvage for the salad.)
Toss the fennel with the salad greens and set aside.
Mix the dressing together. Nothing special about this, just mix it all together. I strongly suggest using a much smaller amount of onion than the recipe calls for.
Tom and I didn’t discover that the grills at his apartment complex were turned off until we tried to grill the artichoke. Needless to say, frying it did not work.
Toss the salad with the dressing, serve and enjoy! (We had ours with chicken kabobs.)
Until next week…or tomorrow since we are now a little behind.
RedRchl
