Artichoke and Spring Onion Sauté Recipe

Fill a large pot with 8 cups (2 L) cold water; squeeze lemon juice into water and add squeezed lemon to pot; set aside.

Trim off outside 3 or 4 layers of tough leaves from artichokes until you reach tender yellow-green leaves. Trim off very end of stem; peel remaining stem. Trim off top darker green part (about top ½ inch/1 cm) of artichokes and discard. Cut in half lengthwise.

Transfer to pot. Bring artichokes to boil over high heat. Reduce heat and simmer until tender, about 20 minutes (or 30 to 40 minutes for large artichokes). Drain and transfer to bowl of ice water; stir until chilled. Drain again; set aside in colander.Quarter lengthwise; use edge of spoon to gently remove any fuzzy choke in centre.

Meanwhile, trim spring onions, leaving lighter green tops and root ends intact and outside layer on. In saucepan of boiling salted water, blanch onions until tender-crisp, about 4 minutes. With slotted spoon, transfer to ice water; stir until chilled. Drain and pat onions and artichokes dry; peel off outside layer of onions and quarter lengthwise. (Make-ahead: Refrigerate for up to 1 day.)

In large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Fry garlic, salt and pepper until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add onions; sauté for 2 minutes. Add artichokes and sauté until hot, about 5 minutes.

Makes 6 servings.

Tip

If you can't find baby artichokes, use 4 large ones, quartered and trimmed of the top third. And you can replace the green-topped spring bulb onions with 8 green onions (trim but leave whole and blanch until tender-crisp, about 2 minutes).

Variation
Sugar Snap Pea and Spring Onion Sauté: Replace artichokes with 1-½ lb (750 g) sugar snap peas, trimmed. Skip first two paragraphs. Cook onions as directed. In same cooking liquid, blanch peas for 2 minutes; chill in ice water. Drain and proceed with recipe, sautéing peas for 1 minute.