Last weekend, I was invited along to a cookery class in London, and one of the things we made during the day was an artichoke and green olive tart.

It.

Was.

Amazing.

The flavours were just insane. You are witnessing the beginning of a serious artichoke obsession here (hence the abundance of them in my recent recipes). When I’m in hospital with an artichoke overdose in a few years’ time, you’ll know that you were there at the very start.

(…I’ll just be over here praying that artichoke overdose isn’t a real thing…)

This time I decided to use the same flavour combination as the tart, but rather than using pastry (which I try not to eat too often!), I thought I’d make little vegetarian sausages instead – artichoke and green olive sausages!

Once again, I used my usual combination of breadcrumbs + egg + baking in the oven to give firm, meaty sausages (well, I say meaty, but what do I know? I’m a vegetarian). I’ve used this method lots of times now, and it never fails to give amazing results – see my spinach and feta chickpea burgers, my mushroom and brie sausages, and my sun-dried tomato and pine nut sausages, to name but a few. As you can see, you can mix up the ingredients depending on what you fancy, but as long as you stick to the general formula, it will more than likely be a success. Best little trick ever!

The flavour of these little babies is just gorgeous – somehow the artichokes add a slight meatiness (again: remember this is coming from a veggie. Chances are these taste absolutely nothing like meat), and the green olives give an incredible tang. I stuck mine in some finger rolls with ketchup and coleslaw (leftovers from our first BBQ of the year, woop!), but you could serve these however else you like.

Looook! Perfection!

Print Vegetarian artichoke and green olive sausages Prep Time: 10 mins Cook Time: 30 mins Total Time: 40 mins Servings: 2 Ingredients 70 g bread

~20 green olives roughly chopped

2 pieces marinated artichoke hearts note: if your jar contains artichoke heart quarters, you will need 8, roughly chopped

3 tbsp fresh parsley chopped

Black pepper

1 egg Instructions Heat the oven to 190°C (Gas Mark 5 / 375°F).

Using a mini food processor , blitz the bread into breadcrumbs, and then add to a bowl with the chopped olives and artichoke hearts, and the parsley. Season with plenty of black pepper (you shouldn't need any salt, because the olives are already quite salty).

Add the egg, and mix until fully distributed through the mixture. Using your hands, form the mixture into four sausage shapes, and place them on a lined baking tray - don't worry if the mixture seems quite wet at the moment, as it will firm up a lot when baked.

Bake in the oven for around 30 minutes, until firm and golden brown. Serve warm. Author: Becca Heyes

If you prefer black olives, try my vegan spaghetti alla puttanesca!