Artichokes with grilled Caesar salad

Once again this recipe was born out of an inspiration from a grilled Caesar salad Meg and I had out for dinner one night.  Adding the artichoke hearts made this a delicious lunch.  You could also serve it as a salad for dinner.  Additionally, you could grill up the Romaine, chop it up, and serve it family-style in a large bowl.  It is pretty insane how much flavor a quick char on the grill, or under the broiler, adds to the salad.

Ingredients

• 1 head of Romaine lettuce
• 2 14ounces cans of artichoke hearts
• 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
• 4 cloves of garlic, diced
• red pepper flake
• salt
• pepper
• Herbs de Provance

Slice the Romaine head in half lengthwise.  Rinse the leaves to remove any dirt.  Preheat the broiler to high (or warm up the grill).

Drain the artichoke hearts and slice in half.

Over medium heat, in a large saute pan, heat the oil.  Toss in the garlic cloves and heat for 1-2 minutes, until fragrant.  Add in the artichoke hearts and cook for 3-4 minutes, until slightly browned.  Season with salt, pepper, Herbs de Provance and red pepper flake (you can use as much or as little red pepper flake as you like).

Place the Romaine on a cookie sheet, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Put the Romaine under the broiler for 4-5 minutes until slightly charred.

Place the Romaine on a plate and top with the artichoke hearts.

You could top with shaved Parmesan cheese, or add more dressing (we simply used the oil and garlic the artichokes were cooked in).