BULGHUR SALAD WITH SMOKED SALMON, ARTICHOKES AND BLACKBERRY VINAIGRETTE

I'm late for the Paper Chef, not too late but late, but this month I can do it a bit the way I want because it's my turn to host. There is still time until midnight wherever you choose in case you want to join in! This month the Judge is Adrienne of Hungry Bruno who got to select the ingredients and this is what she came up with: blackberries, artichokes, bulghur and salmon. My problem was to find the blackberries, no fresh ones around here right now and frozen berries are hard to come by but I did find a type of unsweetened blackberry jam that I immediately grabbed. I really had a lot of different ideas but in the end I went for the simplest of them and I am happy I did because it turned out pretty good actually. I decided to get some smoked salmon because buying fresh salmon in Italy is somehow a contradiction in terms. The artichoke was the simplest ingredient to find because it is season for it here now. In Tuscany you often eat raw artichokes in salads or as a pinzimonio, a plate filled with very fresh and raw vegetables cut into pieces that you dip into small bowls with salt and extra-virgin olive oil. So puzzling it all together, the four ingredients turned into a salad, it is not particularly beautiful to look at, the colours are too alike but the taste is far better! Here's the recipe sketch:





BULGHUR SALAD WITH SMOKED SALMON, ARTICHOKES AND BLACKBERRY VINAIGRETTE

bulghur, cooked
smoked salmon, slicked and cut into small pieces
very fresh artichokes, trimmed and thinly sliced
blackberry jam, unsweetened
honey
salt
extra-virgin olive oil

- Mix a little blackberry jam with little water and honey. I added a small pinch of salt too before I mixed it with the olive oil.
- Put the bulghur on the plates, put a layer of artichokes over it and then top with salmon.
- Drizzle blackberry vinaigrette over the salad and serve.