Pea, artichoke & pumpkin seed dip

Ingredients

• 4 whole artichokes
• 150g frozen or fresh garden peas
• 4 fat cloves of garlic, crushed
• 2 large lemons, juice and zest
• 15g tarragon, finely chopped
• 15g flat leaf parsley
• 175ml olive oil
• 65g pumpkin seeds
• 2 tsp fennel seeds, crushed
• 1.25 tsp fine sea salt
• 15g preserved lemon, chopped with pips removed
• 3 tbsp runny honey

Method

In a small frying pan, toast the sunflower seeds for 2 mins until they start to pop, then pour them into a small grinder or blender.

Add the oil to the same pan and gently heat. Add the crushed garlic, tarragon and fennel seeds. Very gently sizzle for 3 mins until the garlic is just starting to colour. Remove from the heat and let the oil come to room temperature. Pour everything into the grinder with the toasted pumpkins seeds and blitz to a paste. Keep to one side.

Heat a pan of well-salted water and add the juice of 1 lemon. Break off or cut away the fibrous outer leaves from the artichoke heads. Slice off the top third of the head and the very tip of the base. Use a spoon or knife to pull out the fibrous choke completely, then immediately drop each head into the pan of hot salted water. Boil for 10-12 mins until completely tender.

Use a slotted spoon to scoop out the cooked artichokes, then chop roughly before adding to a large blender, discarding any outer leaves that seem fibrous rather than tender soft.

Using the same water, blanche the peas for 3 mins until just tender. Add the peas to the blender with the artichokes, along with the sunflower seed paste, parsley, salt and the zest and juice of the second lemon. Blend to a coarse dip, adding a splash of water if needed. Check for seasoning, adding more salt or lemon if needed, then spoon into a dipping bowl.

In a small blender or grinder, blitz the preserved lemon and honey with a splash of water to create a fine paste. Ripple the fresh green dip with the preserved lemon, drizzle with olive oil, then garnish with pumpkin seeds, tarragon and more preserved lemon if you like. Serve with an abundant selection of seasonal crudites.

Image: Stuart Ovenden