Artichoke Recipes In Italian Cuisine

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

Read the previous part. ← How to grow an artichoke

Cooking secrets

Before preparing an artichoke, the inflorescences must be properly processed, and this is a whole art. The stem is carefully cut off at the very base of the inflorescence head, and the scales are trimmed from above with scissors, cutting off the sharp ends. All slices are immediately moistened with lemon juice so that they do not darken.

From the middle of the basket with a sharp metal spoon, remove the ovaries of flowers. After that, the prepared artichokes are washed well and tied with twine or threads so that the scales do not disintegrate during cooking, and immediately dipped into boiling water, otherwise the baskets will darken. Better yet, put the artichokes in water with lemon juice as they peel - then they certainly won't darken.

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Rinse the cooked artichokes, put them in a saucepan in one row, pour hot water in such an amount that the water only covers the artichokes, salt and cook in a closed saucepan for 10-15 minutes. The readiness of artichokes can be determined with the tip of a knife - if the knife freely enters the pulp of the artichoke, it is ready.

Put the finished artichokes on a sieve with the bottoms up, let the water drain, then place them on a dish, decorate with sprigs of herbs and serve with egg-butter or milk sauce. You can cook more complex dishes from them, there are many of them, some interesting recipes are given below.

Roman Artichokes

8 artichokes, 1 lemon, 1 small bunch of mint, 1 clove of garlic, 50 g bread crumbs, 4-5 tbsp. l. olive oil, salt, freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Remove old outer leaves from artichokes. Tear off the tops from the rest of the leaves. Cut off the stem so that you can place the artichokes upright. Cut the artichoke core with a sharp knife and set aside. Put artichokes in water with lemon juice so that they do not darken. Preheat the oven to 250 ° C. Finely chop the mint, garlic and artichoke hearts, mix with breadcrumbs, olive oil, salt and pepper. Stuff the artichokes with this mixture, put in a fireproof form. Pour some water into the mold, put a sheet of parchment on the artichokes, and cover the top with a lid. Bake for about 1 hour until tender. Serve hot or cold as a snack.

Risotto with artichokes

Onions - 2 pcs., Rice - 2 cups, chopped artichoke hearts - 2 cups, garlic - 2 cloves, dry white wine - 1/3 cup, broth, salt, ground black pepper - to taste, parsley - 2 bunches, grated cheese - 1/4 cup.

In a large saucepan, fry the onions in vegetable oil for a few minutes until they begin to soften. Add the artichoke pieces, chopped garlic and continue to fry. Then add rice and, stirring occasionally, fry until slightly brown (about 2 minutes). After that, pour the wine into the rice and, stirring often, continue to keep on fire until the liquid completely disappears. Heat the broth, add a little to the rice, stirring occasionally until the liquid is absorbed. Continue cooking rice, adding broth as it disappears. The dish can be considered ready when the rice acquires a creamy hue. After the risotto is ready, season with salt and pepper to taste, add parsley and cheese. Stir well and serve immediately.

Artichoke Soup

Artichokes - 2 pcs., Boiled chicken (fillet) - 15 g, green peas - 25 g, spinach - 20 g, butter - 20 g, flour - 20 g, eggs - 1/4 pcs., Cream - 50 g, lemon - 1/6 pcs.

Process the artichokes, separate the bottoms. Sprinkle the bottoms of the artichokes with lemon juice and simmer with butter and broth. Separately in a saucepan, sauté the flour and cook the white sauce in the chicken broth. Add green peas, stewed artichoke bottoms to the sauce and cook for 15-20 minutes with a low boil. Rub the mass through a sieve and bring to a boil again, dilute with broth and season with a mixture of egg yolks and cream. When serving in the soup, put boiled chicken fillet, diced, and chopped leaves of boiled spinach.

Svetlana Shlyakhtina, Yekaterinburg