Moroccan Salad with Crispy Jerusalem Artickokes and Sesame Yogurt

One of my favorite restaurants in the Twin Cities, La Belle vie serves up a wonderful Moroccan Salad with Crispy Artichokes and Sesame Yogurt.  I have ordered it the last 3 times I have been there I love it so much!  They spoon a bit of creamy sesame cumin laced yogurt onto the plate, top it off with mache, kalamata olives and artichokes so crispy they are almost like a chip!  The plate is dusted with Moroccan spices that give just the right amount of seasoning to the salad.  Since I can't go to La Belle Vie every weekend, or every time I am craving this salad, I thought this would be the perfect weekend to try and recreate it!  I put my own spin on it however, and not wanting to deal with frying artichokes, or cleaning one of them (since it is quite the process), I opted for some crispy roasted jerusalem artichokes (sunchokes) instead!    I wasn't able to get my hands on any mache, so I used baby arugula, wartercress and a bit of spinach for my greens, and dressed it lightly in a lemon juice vinaigrette.  I am not exactly sure what all goes into the sesame yogurt at La Belle Vie, but it is so creamy that I guessed it was a Greek yogurt and that is what I used.  I whisked in tahini to make it even more creamy, a bit of cumin, garlic, and lemon juice for flavor, and it was the same delicious flavor as theirs!  My salad also contained kalamata olives, and i decided that smoked Spanish paprika would be perfect for dusting the plate!  My salad was just as wonderful as theirs, and now I am happy that I can recreate it at home for a lot cheaper.  That said, I still think the food at La Belle Vie is amazing and I am sure I will still order their verison of the salad as long as it is on the menu.  If you would like to try my version of this delicious salad for yourself, here is the recipe!

Moroccan Salad with Crispy Jerusalem Artickokes and Sesame Yogurt
Serves 2

4 large jerusalem artichokes (sunchokes) thinly sliced on the diagonal
oilve oil
sea salt

yogurt:
1/2 cup greek yogurt
1 Tbsp sesame tahini
1/2 tsp ground cumin seed
2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp minced garlic

Greens:
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp lemon juice

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1 large bunch of baby arugula (about 1.5 oz)

1 large bunch of watercress or baby spinach (about 1.5 oz)

To plate:

smoked spanish paprika

toasted sesame seeds
1/2 cup kalamata olives, pitted

Preheat the oven to 475 degrees and line a sheet pan with foil, spray with non-stick spray.  Toss artichokes with enough olive oil to coat and spread out on sheet pan.  Roast until crispy and starting to brown at edges.  Remove from oven and let cool.  To make yogurt, whisk together yogurt, tahini, cumin, lemon juice, sea salt and garlic and set aside.  In a large bowl, place 1 Tbsp olive oil, 2 Tbsp lemon juice and sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.  Add greens and roasted artickokes toss well to coat.  To plate salads, dallop a large spoonfull of the yogurt onto each plate, and smooth out with a spoon.  Sprinkle the yogurt and the plate with a little spanish paprika, then top with the dressed greens and artichokes.  Sprinkle with sesame seeds and top with kalamata olives.