Ceviche and Artichoke Heart Salad

Remember when I said I was fresh out of ideas of what to do this week? Well, duh. Spring vegetables are hitting all of the produce stands and there are plump artichokes, gigantic fennel, crisp and green asparagus and a host of other tasty tidbits just waiting for me to put my knife to them.

And so I did.

I bought some fennel with fronds, which I ultimately tossed anyway. Man, those fronds are GOOD with ground lamb in boiled dumplings, Mongolian-style. Too bad I didn't have any ground lamb or else I would have rolled some dough and made some dumplings. Oh well, next time. It was my poor planning, really.

I also grabbed a few artichokes that looked pretty good.

Anyway, there were a couple of recipes I wanted to test out. I wanted to make a semi-labor-intensive meal, and with artichokes, I knew prepping the items would have been half of the hard work. So, to balance it out (because you know it's ALL about balance), I put together a simple ceviche of scallops, grapefruit, avocado (in season and oh-so-buttery), parsley and lemon juice. I didn't want to use limes right now because I've recently been hit with dry, juiceless specimens from Whole Foods, and it just gets me upset. So, I tossed the ceviche with some salt, pepper, lemon juice and a tiny bit of sugar. So simple, yet so very tasty. Nijiya Market had some plump scallops that was perfect to slice thinly and marinade for one person.

My secondi consisted of a simple recipe I found from Alice Waters' repertoire, which listed thinly shaved fennel, artichoke hearts, parmesan and parsley with lots of lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil and white truffle oil (which I still have in my cupboard, I swear that tiny bottle will last for a millenium). I trimmed the artichokes, peeling off the outer leaves and snapping off the sharp tips with a pair of kitchen shears. Then I rubbed each artichoke with a lemon half to prevent them from browning prior to cooking. Amazing--all of the uses of lemon and vinegar!

I sharpened my Wusthof with a new whetstone from Soko Hardware Store, and went to town THINLY slicing the fennel. Then I plated the fennel as a base layer, squeezed lemon juice and ground some pepper and salt, and drizzled extra virgin olive oil over it. When the artichokes were done, I carefully lifted them out of the pot with a pair of tongs and slowly pulled apart the leaves, careful to keep the heart intact and saving the leaves for a light snack tomorrow with some melted, clarified butter.

I sliced the artichoke hearts thin as well after spooning out the hairy chokes, and set them as a second layer atop the fennel. Then, some more lemon juice, salt and pepper and the olive oil. Lastly, I sprinkled some shredded parmesan and about a quarter cup of parsley, and sprayed a couple of pumps of fine balsamic vinegar with the rest of the olive oil and white truffle oil over the dish.

Needless to say, it tasted like Spring.