I do believe the Goddess of Spring has accepted my offering of the Pastiera Napoletana and blessed Montreal with spring! I awoke yesterday to sunshine and clear blue skies. Today was glorious! A repeat of yesterday, only much warmer. Connor, a fellow blogger over at One Man’s Meat, actually claimed that I had caused spring to be sprung all the way in Ireland! The arrival of spring will finally allow Ingrid, from now at home mom, to get outdoors and do what she does best: be crafty! And now I send this Spring Goddess over to Wisconsin, for Melissa over at Motherhood Is An Art (it truly is with her!), for I know it will make her quite happy!

Now, on with my salad! After the dinner I had last night, I was in dire need of a light, fresh and green salad today. I will keep the description of my extravagantly decadent meal for a future post. For now, suffice it to say that it was a caveman’s, or cavewoman’s, fat-laden, brimming with richness and maple syrup kind-of dinner! Enough said.

Ingredients  a salad for 1

slightly adapted from the book Simply Organic

6 baby artichokes

Juice of 1 lemon

2 celery stalks, thinly sliced

Sliced red onion, to your liking

Large handful of Italian parsley, about 1/2 cup, stems removed

1 tablespoon of capes, coarsely chopped

2 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil

Dash of Tabasco

Salt, to taste

Freshly ground black pepper

Begin by pouring the lemon juice in a bowl. Clean the artichokes. Pull away the outer leaves until all that remains is the very light and tender leaves inside. You’ll need to trim the ends as well until you reach the tender part. If the tips of the remaining artichokes are a tad sharp, just cut them off. Slice the trimmed artichokes thinly and add to the the lemon juice, tossing well. This will prevent them from turning brown, which happens within minutes. And in case you’re wondering, baby artichokes have no chokes to remove. The interior is tender enough to eat as is!

Add the celery, onion, parsley, capers, olive oil, Tabasco, and salt and pepper to taste. Toss gently. Allow to sit for 5 minutes and serve at room temperature. It truly is a springtime salad!