Warm Jasmine Rice Salad

I have been in love with Spring more so than usual this year. It's been an early warm one featuring April lilacs, annuals in the garden that curiously survived the winter, loads of pretty chives, and grass that has required several mowings before it reached May 1st.

While I sit in the sun, I crave foods light and green and lemony and so one night tossed together this salad. It was one of those things that was so good that I wrote down how I sort of did it and then made it again so I could present it to all of you. I've been working on the yogurt dressing recipe that I've used here for a while and am pretty enamored with it. I love that it is creamy but not mayonnaise-based (for health reasons only, I could eat an entire jar of Hellman's with a spoon if no one was watching).

The salad itself is a simple combination of sweet peas, tangy artichokes and fragrant jasmine rice along with loads of chopped fresh herbs and lemon. It tastes best warm so try and eat it right away but leftovers are perfectly fine cold. I have eaten this on it's own for lunch and also had it as a side dish along with some grilled lamb.

For 3-4 main dish servings or 5-6 side dish servings:

• 1 cup jasmine rice, uncooked
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 1/3 cup plain yogurt
• Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
• 1 tablespoon poppy seeds
• 1/3 cup chopped mixed herbs (I used basil, chives and oregano)
• 2 tablespoons minced shallot
• 1/2 cup peas
• 1 cup canned quartered artichoke hearts, drained
• Lemon wedges, for serving

Steam or boil the rice. Meanwhile in a large bowl whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, yogurt, lemon zest, poppy seeds, herbs and shallots. Season to taste with sea salt and pepper.

Stir in the warm, cooked rice until thoroughly coated in the dressing. If using frozen peas, stir them into the warm rice which will "cook" them. If using fresh peas, blanch them for 1-2 minutes and then add them to the rice. Stir in the artichokes. Add additional salt and pepper to taste if necessary and serve, with lemon wedges on the side.