 Young baby artichokes just harvested. |
The same artichokes after the |
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the baby artichokes with |
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How to store artichokes: keep in fridge in a plastic bag. Use within a week of harvest. They can keep longer, but are best eaten within a week.
FIXING YOUNG ARTICHOKES
Trim them and sauté in broth, along with chopped onion, garlic, and basil. Or, cut them in quarters, and sauté in olive oil with the garlic and any herb you have on hand, with salt and pepper. Andy makes this dish at least once a week.
Mix dry seasoned bread crumbs w/ crushed garlic (I use several cloves, but I'm from Gilroy) Add enough good quality olive oil to hold the crumbs together. Pull open the leaves of the artichoke and pack in the crumbs. Set the artichokes on a steamer and steam until done. I include sliced lemon in the steamer along w/ the H2O and steam until tender.
From a Market Customer in San Francisco:
Thank you for the wonderful fresh baby artichokes. I fixed them all for dinner last night, and we've never had any artichokes like this -- so tender, sweet, fresh. I trimmed them and sauteed them in vegetable broth, along with chopped onion, (green) garlic, parsley, thyme, rosemary. Then I roughly chopped most of them and put them in a risotto I was making with veg. broth, and served the remaining artichokes sliced in half on top. We used them all. By the way, I saved all the trimmings and will make lots of great veggie broth this weekend!
Cream of Artichoke Heart Soup
adapted from Recipes from the French Kitchen Garden by Brigitte Tilleray
julia’s note: if you still have artichokes and don’t know quite what to do with them, this might be a good recipe for you. If you are an artichoke lover, can’t wait to just eat your new batch and have none left from last week, then try frozen artichoke hearts with this recipe: you’ll need 12-15 frozen or canned in water hearts: they are processed from the smaller artichokes they don’t sell to fresh market.
6 artichokes
S & P
2 ½ cups stock: chicken or vegetable
1 Tablespoon milk
2 teaspoons cornstarch
½ cup creme fraiche or sour cream
1 heaped Tablespoon finely chopped chervil (if you don’t know what to do with the rest of your chervil, try adding to a green salad: it’s divine that way!)
Cut off the stalks at the base of the artichokes. Cook until done, so a fork can easily pierce your artichokes. Trim away tough outer leaves and and chokes that might be present. (Most of ours are small and tender enough they don’t have a choke at all.)
Place the hearts in a saucepan with the stock. Bring to the boil, the puree. Make a paste with the milk and cornstarch. Stir gently into the soup over low heat until it thickens. Add the creme fraiche and
chervil. Season to taste with Salt and Pepper. Stir a bit more and serve. Serves 6
Artichokes Provencal
adapted from The Vegetable Market Cookbook by Robert Budwig
6 baby artichokes, purple or green, or hearts of 6 larger globe artichokes
juice of 1 lemon
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 medium sized onion, finely chopped, OR 2 large leeks, OR 3 stalks green garlic, or 4 green onions, etc. all finely chopped
sprig of fresh thyme or 1 tsp dried thyme
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper
1 cup white wine, preferably a dry white wine
Cut the leaf tips off the baby artichokes and trim off the rough outer leaves. Cut each artichoke in half and remove the choke if necessary. (It usually isn’t with our small, fresh ones!) Immediately drop artichokes into a bowl of water to which you’ve added lemon juice to avoid the artichokes turning dark colored. Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a low heat. Add the onion, drained artichokes, herbs, S & P and wine. Cook, covered, for 45 minutes, or until tender, stirring from time to time. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Artichokes:
From a book I got from the library: A Mother’s Book of Traditional Household Skills by L.G. Abell, originally published in 1853
These are very good cut in thin slices, with vinegar, salt and pepper. If cooked, they must be boiled two or three hours closely covered, and when tender, served with melted butter.
Herbed Artichoke Lemon Salad
This one can be made ahead, and the ingredients can be changed as they are available in your cabinet/refrigerator.
2 pounds young artichokes, or the smallest you can find and quarter them if they are large
3 T olive oil
1 T chopped garlic
3 T spring onions
1 T lemon juice
fresh chopped marjoram, or dried oregano if the marjoram isn’t available
S & P to taste
Clean the artichokes by chopping the tips off with your sharpest knife. Cut into quarters if they are as large as your fist or larger. Steam in a steamer until tender, 25-45 minutes, depending on their freshness and size. You’ll know they’re done as with a baked potato: poke with a fork or bamboo skewer to make sure they are tender all the way through.
Toss with 2 Tablespoons olive oil and all the garlic, then let cool to room temperature, or at least 30 minutes (the heat helps tame the garlic). Add the lemon juice and onions and marjoram and S & P just before serving, mix gently, and you have a salad!
MASTER RECIPE FOR STEAMED WHOLE ARTICHOKES
adapted from Cooks Illustrated Serves 4
A steaming apparatus, such as a collapsible basket or bamboo rack, is helpful but not necessary for whole artichokes. Simply make use of the artichoke's tips and trimmings as a rack. Artichokes can be served warm with melted butter or at room temperature with one of the vinaigrettes that follow.
12 baby artichokes, rinsed and trimmed
Salt
1. Place steaming apparatus (optional) in large nonreactive pot with tight-fitting lid; bring 1 inch of water to boil.
2. Place artichokes, stem end up, in steaming apparatus or in water. Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt; cover and steam over medium-high heat until tender, about 25 minutes for the babies; outer leaves should pull away easily and the stem end should be thoroughly tender. 3. Gently remove artichokes with tongs. Serve immediately or cool, stem end up, to room temperature. (Can be covered and refrigerated overnight; bring to room temperature before serving.)
Artichoke and Thyme Frittata with Parmesan
2 tablespoons olive oil or unsalted butter
2 stalks green garlic, chopped (except toughest, greenest part
of leaves) or one shallot, chopped
1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme leaves
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves
1 pound baby artichokes, cleaned and steamed til nearly done
5 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon each salt and ground black pepper
6 large eggs, lightly beaten
1. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Heat oil or butter in 10-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat. Swirl skillet to distribute evenly over bottom and sides. Add garlic; saute until softened, 3 to 4 minutes. Add thyme, parsley, and artichokes; toss to coat with oil. Spread in single layer.
3. Meanwhile, stir 3 tablespoons of the cheese, salt, and pepper into eggs.
4. Pour mixture into skillet; stir lightly with fork until eggs start to set. Once bottom is firm, use thin, nonmetallic spatula to lift frittata edge closest to you. Tilt skillet slightly toward you so that uncooked egg runs underneath. Return skillet to level position and swirl gently to evenly distribute egg. Continue cooking about 40 seconds, then lift edge again, repeating process until egg on top is no longer runny.
5. Transfer skillet to oven; sprinkling remaining 2 tablespoons cheese over frittata before baking, bake until frittata top is set and dry to touch, 2 to 4 minutes, making sure to remove frittata as soon as top is just set.
6. Run spatula around skillet edge to loosen frittata; invert onto serving plate. Serve warm, at room temperature, or chilled.
ARTICHOKES WITH LEMON-GARLIC BUTTER
4 fresh artichokes
1/4 cup olive oil
6 large garlic cloves, minced
4 teaspoons minced fresh thyme
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
Place steamer rack in large pot. Fill pot with enough water to come just to bottom of rack. Cut stems and top 1 1/2 inches from artichokes. Cut away first outside row of artichoke leaves. Using scissors, cut off pointed tips of leaves. Arrange artichokes on rack. Bring water to boil over high heat. Cover pot; steam artichokes until knife pierces base easily, adding more water if necessary, about 45 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat oil in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and thyme; cook 1
minute. Add lemon juice and butter; whisk until butter melts. Season with salt and pepper. Serve
artichokes warm with seasoned butter.
Serves 4.
Bon Appétit April 1996
Artichoke Pie
from George Augustus Sala's Thorough Good Cook (1895)
Boil 12 artichokes, break off the chokes and leaves and take the bottoms clear from the stalks; line the dish with puff-paste, and lay on this four ounces fresh butter. Place a row of artichokes; strew over them pepper, salt, and beaten mace; then another layer of artichokes; strew on more spice and a quarter of a pound of butter cut in small pieces. Boil half an ounce of truffles and morels, chopped small, in a quarter of a pint of water, and pour into the pie, with a gill of white wine. Cover your pie and bake.
