Here’s a recipe that will make you feel a little fancy on a Tuesday night. I almost can’t believe I’m writing a post about artichokes as they were one of my most feared food items as a child. I’m not quite sure why anymore, I think it had something to do with a period in my life where my mother made them a lot, beyond that I can’t remember any details.
A few years ago after seeing baby artichokes make there way into Vancouver markets, I decided it might be worth giving them another shot. They are small and seemed like the perfect entry level artichoke to tackle as a former artichoke hater. Plus I had them once being served as part of an amazing antipasti platter and I completely fell in love with the way they complimented everything both aesthetically and with their woodsy flavor.
These artichokes apart from the cleaning process are extremely simple to prepare. Really it’s just a few tablespoons of olive oil, lemon and any variety of strong hard cheese you have on hand. They are a perfect snack or accompaniment. I served these roasted as is but I suspect they would be fabulous if you had some kind of simple sauce like an aioli to dip them in. My behind is starting to look like an Easter ham so I decided to skip that part at least this time around.
Roasted Baby Artichokes – Serves 4 as a side – Recipe inspired by Saveur
Take a look at what Saveur says about cleaning baby artichokes.
1 pound of baby artichokes, cleaned, sliced in half and rubbed with lemon
3 tablespoons of olive oil
2 cloves of fresh grated garlic
1/4 cup fresh grated Parmigiano Reggiano
Fleur de Sel
Freshly grated black pepper
Preheat your oven to 350 c.
Make sure each artichoke half is rubbed well with lemon. Let the artichokes soak in a bowl of cold lemon water as you are cleaning the rest.
In a high sided pan or pot bring some water to a boil. Throw in the artichokes and a few of the lemon wedges and boil until they are tender. The time on this will depend on how young your artichokes are and how much of the outer leaves you have pealed off. For me this was about 15 minutes.
Mix the olive oil and grated garlic together and allow the garlic to infuse the oil.
Drain the artichokes once they are tender and dry off completely and toss them in the olive oil and garlic mixture. Season with Salt and pepper and roast them in your oven for 15 minutes or until they are golden brown.
Serve warm tossed with the cheese.
