Artichokes
Preserve the freshness.
Tiny artichokes that are just right for eating. Here, I've cut them in half, removed the outer leaves and boiled them in acidulated water for ten minutes.
Then, I'll drain them and preserve in two different ways:
1. Freeze
2. Pack in olive oil.
If you pick them young, you will have less waste and the choke, the middle part that is spiny and not edible is not a problem at all in tiny chokes. If it is, pull out after the chokes are cooled.
Here is how I like to serve them:
Fried artichokes:
Defrost the chokes or pull them out of the pack.
Pull each leaf off.
Dip in your favorite (beer for me) batter and then fry in olive oil until golden.
Serve as appetizer or a side dish with lemony mayo.
If you find a cookbook with these pictures you grab it.
You look through its many recipes, and you fall in love with its simplicity, its exquisite simplicity.
The cookbook: Savoring Italy, by Robert Freson, 1992 is now in my son's possession, one of the things that I rediscovered.
In spring, when the first peas and favas are barely ripe, when artichokes are barely big enough, Mother prepared stuffed artichokes with peas or favas.
Ingredients:
2 or 3 small artichokes per person
2 lemons
1 lb of fresh peas or favas
Olive oil
Bread crumbs
garlic cloves
one onion, sliced thinly
parsley, minced.
salt and pepper
Trim the artichokes, remove center and stalk. Peel the stalk and dice to mix with the peas. Parboil the artichokes in boiling water with lemon slices for five minutes. Drain and set aside while you prepare the stuffing.
To the breadcrumbs made fresh with your day old bread, add minced parsley, minced garlic, salt and pepper and enough olive oil for the mixture to stick together.
Stuff the artichokes and place in a baking dish.
Add peas and onion slices to cover all areas around the artichokes. Add 1/2 of water.
Drizzle additional olive oil all over. Cover with foil.
Bake at 350 for 40 minutes.
Serve with crusty bread and a fruity wine.
Add grilled lamb chops to complete the meal.
A true spring meal.
Stuffed Artichokes
Fresh from the field, artichokes grow well in a cool marine environment. One plant will produce a dozen chokes, not all at the same time.
When you purchase them, you'll discover that 70% of the fruit is not edible at all. The choke's outer leaves are tough and need to be discarded. What you have left is the heart and the stem.
Don't worry.
Artichokes are a magic food.
You will need to pull out most of the outer leaves, cut it in half length wise, scrape out the fuzzy middle, and drop the choke and peeled stems in a pot of boiling water with two, three slices of lemons for five minutes. Drain and set aside.
Prepare the filling: for each half, you'll need two spoonfuls of bread crumbs, a tablespoon of olive oil, a tablespoon of chopped parsley, minced garlic, and salt and pepper to your liking.
Arrange the artichokes halves on a baking dish. Spoon the stuffing in the middle of each half. Drizzle more olive oil and slide the dish in a hot oven, 425F, for ten minutes. Watch. Do not allow the filling to burn.
Serve hot, one half per person, as an appetizer, or as a side dish.
You'll pull a leaf out, use it as a spoon to eat the filling, scrape the soft part of the leaf against your front teeth, and discard the rest.
The tongue and teeth will find is a tiny scraping of edible fiber at the bottom of each leaf that will surprise your senses.
You won't satisfy your hunger here, just tease it a bit, for the main course.
What we have done is to temper the bitterness by boiling, baking and adding companion savories. What looked inedible has become a rare treat by the magic you provided in the kitchen.
A glass of Riesling or Pinot Gris would help the mood.
Buon Appetito!