Showing posts with label Artichokes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Artichokes. Show all posts

Thursday, November 9, 2017

Artichoke Risotto



I only had two artichokes and needed a meal for 4 people, and risotto was the ideal solution. Clean the artichokes and remove the outer leaves. Peel the stalks and cut into small pieces. Put everything in water with lemon juice while you work or the artichokes will become black. Finely chop a handful of parsley with a couple of garlic cloves and add salt. Stuff the artichokes with the chopped garlic and parsley and add a drizzle of olive oil. Place in a casserole, together with the stalks, and add 5cm of water. Simmer on low with the lid on for one hour or until cooked (the outer leaves will start to detach), adding a little hot
water from time to time. Prepare a litre of boiling vegetable stock (I used Rapunzel vegetable broth cubes). In a separate pot melt a tsp of vegetable margarine or 3 heat 3 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil, add the rice (arborio or carnaroli) 100g per person, then add the artichokes and their juice. Then slowly add the vegetable stock stirring constantly until the risotto is ready. Adjust with salt if needed and serve immediately, if you have two people one artichoke each, if four cut the artichokes into two.

 Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©
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Friday, March 17, 2017

Carciofi alla romana


These type of artichokes are called mammole,  the 'petals' are rounded and not as spiky like for carciofi. But they are excellent cooked alla romana. Cut the outer petals off until you get to the tender heart, leave a bit of the stalks, but peel them, and then immediately put them in water and lemon (so that they don't become black) to wash them. Finely chop plenty of Italian parsley with garlic and a pinch of salt, and use this to fill the centre of each artichoke. Place the artichokes in a pot, drizzle some olive oil in the centre of each artichoke and add a little water at the bottom of the pan (about 2 fingers). Cover with a lid and simmer on low for a long time (1-2 hours) adding water from time to time. Sorry I didn't take a photo of the final product, but you can find one here.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©
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Monday, July 16, 2012

Aunt Alice's Artichokes






I have to say that the ingredients and cooking method are very similar to mine (and my mother's). We call it Roman style, possibly because both my Mum and my Aunt learned to make this in Rome (and I learned from them). But there are two main differences between my usual recipe which I always make in New Zealand (recipe here) and this one, simply due to ... availability!!! In NZ artichokes are still rare and quite expensive, so when I get a few I cook them with all the hard outer leaves (to be scraped with teeth at the table until you reach the heart) while here in Italy artichokes abound and so we can discard the outer leaves and cook only the tender hearts. 

The other difference is that while I cooked the whole artichokes "flower side up", the artichokes hearts with stalks are cooked "flower side down", and in this way you can leave a bit of the stalk in too, they are yummy and tender!

All you need to do is to:

Clean very well the artichokes discarding all the hard outer leaves. Also peel the stalks and keep up to 5 cm attached to the floret. As soon as one artichoke is cleaned drop it immediately in a bowl full of water and lemon juice or lemon slices. Keep the artichokes in the lemon water until cooking time. 

Finely chopped Italian parsley with garlic and salt, and then use this mixture to fill the centre of the artichokes (so far the recipe is like for the these artichokes) but then place the artichokes upside down into the pot (like in the photos, I only turned one up to show you what the inside would look like at the end of cooking), add a little extra virgin olive oil, a few more slices of garlic (if you like), another  pinch of salt, and a couple of fingers of water. Place on the stove on low, cover with a lid and simmer for about two hours, adding water from time to time, if needed.

Now there is one last thing to be said here: Aunt Alice had a wood fire stove (stufa, a bit like an Aga, I should remember to take a photo sometimes!) and in this way you can cook the artichokes (and many other dishes) really slowly, all they long... so the ones that she makes always have a special taste. Plus she has the patience to clean over 15 artichokes!


Photos and Recipe by Alessandra Zecchini and Aunt Alice ©

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Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Artichokes Roman Style





Kazuyo gave me 4 artichokes, so we got one each and I cooked them alla romana, the best way to make a few artichokes go a long way. Cut the spikes off, and the stalks and then immediately put the artichokes in water and lemon (so that they don't become black) to wash them. Finely chop plenty of Italian parsley with garlic and a pinch of salt, and use this to fill the centre of each artichoke. Place the artichokes side up in a pot, drizzle some olive oil in the centre of each artichoke and add a little water at the bottom (about 2 fingers). Cover with a lid and simmer on low for a long time (1-2 hours) adding water from time to time. The artichokes are ready when the leaves easily detach with your fingers. 


This is Vegan and Gluten Free


To eat the artichokes remove the harder outer leaves with your fingers and just scrape the flesh off with your teeth (keep a bowl on the side to discard the used leaves) until you get to the heart, which can be eaten whole. The remaining stock is excellent for risotto. One artichoke per person is just right!


Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©
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Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Artichoke Tofu






In the freezer I had some artichokes which I had cooked alla romana, with garlic and parsley (you can find the recipe, which appeared on Cuisine Magazine, by clicking here).

They needed to be used, so I defrost them, removed the outer leaves and scraped the flesh out with a knife (lots of work!)

I set the flesh aside, collected the juices from the defrosted artichokes (they had made quite a bit of broth), and gently simmered the hearts again in their juices with some tofu cubes. The tofu soaked up the artichoke flavour nicely. Once all the water was absorbed I served the tofu ad artichokes hearts with some steamed carrots and boiled new potatoes, and the artichoke sauce made by heating up the artichoke flesh and adding a little olive oil.


Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©


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Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Artichoke Risotto with Baby Yellow Zucchini and Flowers



Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Ingredients

2 artichokes
Lemon juice
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1 cup Italian parsley
Salt to taste
Extra Virgin Olive oil
1 shallot
500 g arborio rice
500 ml vegetable stock
5 yellow baby zucchini (as small as a finger) with flower still attached
Calendula petals to decorate

Serve 6

Cook the artichokes one day earlier. In a bowl filled with water and lemon juice wash the artichokes and cut out a few of the hardest leaves (petals). Finely chop the garlic cloves with the parsley and a little salt and then use to stuff the artichokes. Place in a small saucepan, drizzle with olive oil and cover halfway through with water. Simmer until the outer leaves easily detach from the heart, adding water from time to time if necessary. The water will make a lovely broth.

The day after scrape all the flesh from the hardest outer leaves and place in a small saucepan with the artichoke hearts and their water (discard the hard bits). Mush flesh and hearts with a wooden spoon, and gently reheat. Keep warm and set aside.

Finely chop the shallot andsauté with 2 tbsp of olive oil. Add the rice and when this is lightly 'toasted', add the artichokes and their water. Stir and then continue cooking, adding some hot vegetable stock little by little, and stirring often. If the risotto is too dry you may need to add a little more stock or boiling water.

Clean the yellow zucchini, do no detach the flowers, just remove the sepals. When the risotto is almost cooked add the zucchini, gently stir in to cover them completely with the risotto, turn the element off, cover the pot with a lid and let it stand for 5 minutes. The zucchini are very small and should cook with the heat of the risotto.

To assemble, divide the risotto between 6 plates, with one baby zucchini for each plate, sprinkle with calendula flowers, and enjoy.

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Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Artichokes with Garlic, Parsley and Bread Stuffing



I picked some wonderful artichokes from the Slow Food Waitakere communal gardens, yum!! Usually I like to cook them alla romana, with garlic and parsley
(you can find the recipe, which appeared on Cuisine Magazine, by clicking here)

Photo by Aaron McLean for Cuisine Magazine

and I was happy to see that the recipe has been picked up by another New Zealand blogger, Arfi of HomeMadeS, here is her recipe

So my artichokes, cut and cleaned with water and lemon, and stuffed with chopped garlic, parsley, salt and olive oil, were ready for the pot.


Then I remembered my friend Enza from Io da Grande who posted a Sicilian recipe on an Italian Food Forum...but I could not remember the name of the recipe, just that it was very similar but with the addition of (I think) breadcrumbs. And so I did.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

I simmered the artichokes slowly, adding water little by little to the bottom of the pot, until the outer leaves were easy to pull off by hand. We ate them with gusto, it was the very first taste of this vegetable for my father in law, visiting from Christchurch.

And as I had a few leftovers in the pot I scraped off the tender flesh form the outer leaves and mixed it with the soft artichokes hearts and their stock (the water from the artichokes makes a wonderful stock) and made a lovely sauce to dress pasta the day after.

The same sauce can be spread on crostini.

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