(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . What's For Dinner? v18.48 -- Artichokes [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-06-01 I mentioned artichokes in my comment last week and people asked how I prepared them, so I decided it was time to write about artichokes again, it’s been TEN YEARS since my first artichoke WFD. I don’t have any new recipes, just new pictures, with step-by-step detail. — Quoting wiki: The globe artichoke (Cynara cardunculus var. scolymus ... is a variety of a species of thistle cultivated as food… The edible portion of the plant consists of the flower buds before the flowers come into bloom. The edible portions of the buds consist primarily of the fleshy lower portions of the involucral bracts and the base, known as the heart; the mass of immature florets in the center of the bud is called the choke or beard… The artichoke is a domesticated variety of the wild cardoon (Cynara cardunculus),[12] which is native to the Mediterranean area.[4] There was debate over whether the artichoke was a food among the ancient Greeks and Romans, or whether that cultivar was developed later, with Classical sources referring instead to the wild cardoon... Le Roy Ladurie, in his book Les Paysans de Languedoc, has documented the spread of artichoke cultivation in Italy and southern France in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, when the artichoke appeared as a new arrival with a new name, which may be taken to indicate an arrival of an improved cultivated variety… In the United States, California provides nearly 100% of the U.S. crop, with about 80% of that being grown in Monterey County; there, Castroville proclaims itself to be "The Artichoke Center of the World" and holds the annual Castroville Artichoke Festival. I live 80 miles or so from Castroville and attended the Artichoke Festival a number of times until it got so big it had to move out of Castroville to the County Fairgrounds in Monterey. -— The good nurseries around here have artichoke plants every spring. I started with two plants along my back fence in probably 2003 or ‘04, and the plants and crop are bigger every year. Wiki says “each individual plant lives only a few years” so maybe what I have is newer growth from the original roots? Anyway it’s happy and productive and takes over that side of my yard every spring. artichoke plant May 2014, with old falling-down fence artichoke plant 2 weeks ago the new fence is several inches taller than the old falling-down one, so the plant is around 18” taller than it was then. some of the early crop, 2014 most of the 2024 crop This pile here is 30-32 artichokes, I lost count when I picked some out for the next picture. I’ve probably eaten or given away about 10 already, so the total crop this year was 40-ish. 3 examples The small one in this picture is 2” diameter, weighs 4 ounces; the medium one 2.5” and 6 ounces; the large one 3.5” and 10.5 ounces. The 2014 crop was mostly the two smaller sizes; this year mostly the two larger sizes. The 2.5” size is IMO a fine appetizer portion; the 3.5” size (which is what you will probably see in the market) is a lot for one person for a first course, especially if you choose a fatty dipping sauce. Notice that the small one is a tight ball and the medium one is much more opened up. You won’t see the opened-up ones in the market, farmers will have picked them before that. I waited longer than is ideal because it’s hard to fit 40 artichokes in my refrigerator along with my beer and other food. Once they start opening up they’re still good to eat but the base is developing more tough fibers that you’ll want to trim off. Also, aphids start getting in there. -— The first few steps are the same no matter what the final presentation is: pull off and discard the smallest leaves at the bottom, and trim the stem to about 1/4” using scissors, starting at the bottom, trim leaves one at a time until there’s just a small tight cluster in the middle using a large heavy knife, trim the top boil in salted water with a squeeze of lemon In the picture I’m cooking two chokes of different sizes, I had to be careful to remove the smaller one first. The 2” artichoke needs about 15 minutes of boiling; the 2.5” size right around 20 minutes, the 3.5” size 25-30 minutes. Some people talk about “steaming” artichokes, IMO that takes more time than I have. It’s possible to cook them in a microwave but that’s not what I do. If you’re going to grill the artichokes (I’ll get there eventually) you need to get the cooking time accurate, they need to be just barely cooked so they don’t completely fall apart during the later steps. For the simple dip and eat method it’s OK to give them a couple extra minutes. one medium artichoke, cooked -— Wiki again: Leaves are often removed one at a time, and the fleshy base eaten, with vinaigrette, hollandaise, vinegar, butter, mayonnaise, aioli, lemon juice, or other sauces. The fibrous upper part of each leaf is usually discarded. The heart is eaten when the inedible choke has been peeled away from the base and discarded. This is the easiest and most common way of eating artichokes. My favorite sauces for artichokes are: melted butter melted unsalted butter with soy sauce soy sauce with balsamic vinegar (this is the marinade for the grilled artichokes mentioned later) they said “leaves” but aren’t they flower petals? Anyway there’s only a tiny amount of edible flesh at the bottom. Dip in sauce (or not) and scrape the fleshy part off with your front teeth. all the leaves eaten, that’s the “choke” part, scrape it off with a spoon I liked “The fibrous upper part of each leaf is usually discarded” in the quote above; I have no idea what else you can do with them, they are not edible. Usually I put a bowl on the table to throw them in. with the choke scraped off, that is the artichoke heart. the ratio of food to inedible outside is not very high. on the bottom of the artichoke there may be some tough fibers, if so cut them off with a knife. artichoke heart trimmed to edible part, eat with a fork. Grilled Artichokes For grilled artichokes, after removing from the boiling water, cool them quickly in an ice bath or under cold running water, then cut in half. I need to improve my lighting, and also soak that cutting board in bleach. In person it doesn’t look nearly so yellow. use a spoon to scrape the choke and inner leaves out This is a decision point: if you misjudged the cooking time and the artichokes are a little overcooked, they will come apart when you cut them. If you end up with a pile of separated leaves, melt some butter and start eating. The grilled presentation wants nice neat halves to look attractive. This one stayed together well enough. marinate cut side down The marinade (recipe courtesy of the Grilled Artichokes booth at the Castroville Artichoke Festival) is one part balsamic vinegar and two parts soy sauce. Grill for a few minutes to get some pretty grill marks, and dip in the remaining marinade while eating. finished grilled artichokes with some delicious caramelization This recipe is from Martha Stewart (but not found on her website any more), which is also a WFD rerun for me. It’s a lot of prep work but very very tasty. Roman-Style Artichokes serves 6 1 lemon 6 artichokes (8 to 10 ounces each) — important! You want medium-size, not softball-size. 1/2 cup dry white wine 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling 1/2 cup water 1 teaspoon coarse salt 1/4 teaspoon red-pepper flakes, plus more for sprinkling 2 tablespoons minced garlic (from about 5 cloves) 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves 1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano leaves 1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint leaves Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Halve lemon and squeeze juice into a large bowl of cold water; add squeezed lemon halves to bowl. Working with 1 artichoke at a time, peel tough outer leaves and trim 1 inch from top. Trim fibrous green skin from heart and stem. Halve each artichoke lengthwise, scrape fuzzy choke from heart with a spoon, and transfer to lemon water. Drain artichokes and place, cut side up, in a wide, shallow ovenproof pot. Pour wine, oil, and water over artichokes and sprinkle with salt, red-pepper flakes, garlic, and herbs. Bring to a boil over high heat. Cover, transfer to oven, and braise until artichokes are tender, about 45 minutes. Drizzle with oil, sprinkle with red-pepper flakes, and serve with pan juices. The dinner plan here is artichoke, grilled chicken, and tabbouleh. What’s for dinner at your place? [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/6/1/2242555/-What-s-For-Dinner-v18-48-Artichokes?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/