Here is a little scenario: you worked all day in the office, you feel a little sick and it is Monday. Right before you leave the office, a friend calls and tells that he’d like to stop by for dinner. You don’t want to turn him down, so what do you do? You make a simple and delicious salad – after all, you shouldn’t be eating a heavy dinner anyway!

 

So here is one easy salad idea for such an evening. The most important ingredient in this recipe is cornsalad, which means “vuonankaali” in Finnish. I found it in both K-market in Kamppi and in Stockmann’s market. I like the one in Kamppi more since it has bigger leaves.

 

Ingredients (I am not giving any exact amounts, make the mixture as you like):

 

Cornsalad (vuonankaali)
Cherry tomatoes
Artichoke hearts in brine (Pirkka brand is both cheap and tasty)
Pasta (I used Gallo brand Penne, made with green beans, spinach, carrots and tomatoes)
Yoghurt (my favorite: Bulgarian Yogurtti – but for a sweeter taste, Valio’s Turkish yoghurt can be used)
Lemon juice
Olive oil
Cheese (for a final touch)

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1. Take the leaves of the cornsalad only.

 

 

2. Add tomatoes. I like cutting cherry tomatoes into at least 2 pieces.

 

 

3. Wash each artichoke hearts in cold water and then divide it into its leaves. Add the leaves to the mixture.

 

 

4. Add as much as pasta as you like. I used pasta just to add a little taste and different colours that’s why I only boiled a handful of it. I also didn’t use any oil or salt while boiling, since I would use olive oil for the whole salad in the end.

 

 

5. If you want to put some salt, do it at this point, before you add the liquid stuff. Then mix it a little.

 

6. Add yoghurt, lemon juice and olive oil. Put some cheese on the salad for decoration.

 

 

You can always add some meatballs or chicken depending on your diet. We were vegetarian today. It was lighter this way. We then continued to watch the latest episode of “The Walking Dead” as we were eating and that was the only bad choice for the evening!!