Ensalada de Escalibada

1 small aubergine
1 green pepper
1 red pepper
1 medium onion
3 artichoke hearts *
½lb tomatoes
5 Tbsp olive oil
3 Tbsp lemon juice
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 Tbsp minced parley
1 tsp capers
Salt & pepper
2 hard-boiled eggs

Put the aubergine, peppers and whole peeled onion in a roasting pan in the oven (180°C, 350°F, mark 4) for about 30 minutes, turning once or twice. When cool enough to handle, peel the peppers and cut into strips, cut aubergine into chunks, coarsely chop onions – they should still be slightly crunchy. Put in a serving bowl with the sliced artichokes and tomatoes.

Whisk together the oil, lemon juice, garlic, parsley, capers and seasoning, then pour over the vegetables and mix gently. Chill, and serve decorated with slices of egg.

Notes: the best thing to do here is to buy fresh globe artichokes, remove the outer leaves by folding down and snapping them off, when you get to the small tender leaves use a sharp stainless knife to cut across the top of the heart to remove the choke, cut off the stem and carefully pare around the base, put into a bowl of water acidulated with some lemon juice. Bring a pan of salted water to the boil, put in the artichoke hearts and cook for 5-10 minutes until just tender – drain and leave to cool.

However, the easier thing is to buy a jar of artichoke hearts in oil or brine, drain and use (jars tend to be better than tins; if in brine, leave to drain for quite a long time, turning and squeezing regularly – you really don’t want to include the brine in the dressing.)

recipe from here