Baby artichokes, pink grapefruit, chicory & black olive crumb

Adapted for our menu from a recipe by Sally Clarke, this recipe will feature in our new 'Plates from the Ox Barn' class in The Cookery School at Thyme. There is a little magic to be found in Thyme’s kitchens and no more so than in the winter months when our chefs have less variety of fresh produce. Their skills at balancing flavours and textures really come to the fore, and incorporating bitter flavours successfully is a real art. After the extravagant indulgence of Christmas with its rich roasts, ballsy braises and plenitude of puddings it is time to celebrate the much-neglected contributor to taste that is bitterness.

Ingredients

• 12-18 baby artichokes, top quarter trimmed away and stalks cut to 1 cm

• 3 shallots, finely chopped and sweated down

• 3 garlic cloves

• A few sprigs of rosemary and thyme

• Splash vinegar

• Splash white wine

• Salt & pepper

• 100 ml olive oil

• 1 tsp thyme

• 2 large pink grapefruit

• 1 tbsp flat leaved parsley, roughly chopped

• Bitter leaves such as radicchio

• Thinly sliced sourdough

• Olive oil

• 1 jar pitted black olives

Method

• To make the olive crumbs, fry thinly sliced sourdough in olive oil until very crispy.

• Blitz the crostini with the olives to a fine crumb, then allow to dry.

• Cook the prepared artichokes in a pan, add sweated shallots, garlic, thyme, rosemary, splash of vinegar and a healthy splash of white wine, with water to cover. Bring to the boil and cook for 12-15 minutes to 'slightly firm'.

• Cool in cold water and drain.

• Peel away the tough outer leaves and cut into halves of quarters depending on their size, remove any choke if present.

• Season with salt and pepper and a little olive oil.

• Segment the grapefruit carefully and save the juice.

• Dress the herbs and leaves with a little olive oil and the grapefruit juice.

• Add to the plate with the artichokes and sprinkle with the olive crumb.