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WHAT'S NEW
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Andrew's ingredient of the month -- Artichokes
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While eating local might be your goal, in March Canadians would be stuck eating old rutabagas and beets if it weren't for California. Take advantage of their early harvest and celebrate artichokes.
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By Andrew Chase, Homemakers Magazine Food editor
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How to eat an artichoke
To eat an artichoke, pull off the outer petals, one-by-one, and dip the fleshy part of the leaf in the butter or vinaigrette. Scrape off the tender fleshy bits with your teeth, discarding the inedible tougher parts of the leaf. When you come to the purple and white prickly leaves of the centre, pull them out and, with a spoon, scrape the choke (the fine hairs) of the top of the heart and discard. Cut the heart and stem into pieces.
How to prepare small artichokes
Small artichokes are wonderful when boiled until tender and drizzled with olive oil or marinated in a vinaigrette. To prepare them:
-Pull off the tough, dark outer green leaves of each artichoke to reveal the tender yellow-green interior. You'll have to tear off more leaves than your waste-not-want-not conscience might allow, but it's essential to only have the tender inner leaves. For this job, expect a big bag of waste for the compost.
-Peel the stem. Cut off and discard the top third to half of each artichoke so only the tender bottom part of the leaves, heart and stems remain. Place the trimmed artichokes directly in acidulated water. If you are working slowly, run a cut lemon over the exposed surfaces of the artichokes to prevent too much browning.
Small artichokes have little or no choke, so they can be boiled whole. Boil in acidulated salted water until tender, about 20 minutes. Drain and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt. Or let cool, mix with vinegar and/or lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper (and garlic if desired); let stand for at least 10 minutes or marinate for up to 1 day.
Medium or even large artichokes can also be prepared as above, only they must be halved or quartered after trimming and the choke must be scraped out with a paring knife before cooking.
You can also braise artichokes directly with lots of fragrant olive oil. Or you can cook them in stock or water, flavoured with bay leaf and other herbs, drain, and finish them in a skillet with garlic and olive oil. In Italy, cooks like to deep fry sliced smaller artichokes in olive oil and eat them crispy.
Look for my pizza recipe in the May 2008 issue of Homemakers, where raw artichokes are thinly sliced and cooked directly in the pizza -- a real artichoke-lover's dream recipe! In the meantime, try my recipe for Stuffed Artichokes. It was inspired by a Sicilian-American friend who brought his grandmother's artichokes from his Brooklyn home to our Columbia University dorm for us to enjoy.
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Andrew Chase is Homemakers Magazine's food editor, the author of The Asian Bistro Cookbook (Robert Rose, 1997), The Blender Bible (Robert Rose, 2005) and co-author of 400 Blender Cocktails: Sensational Alcoholic And Non-alcoholic Cocktail Recipes (Robert Rose, 2006). Subscribe to Homemakers Magazine and don't miss any of Andrew's recipes and menus.
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