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Food for Thought with Suzanne Dunaway

Artichokes

Our French small artichokes are brilliant in spring. They are usually green or violette and very tender. The big globes are good, too, but it’s best to take off the few tough outer, lower leaves, quarter them, steam in olive oil, garlic and a bit of white wine, covered, adding a bit of mint at the end.

Dip the leaves in lemon butter or olive oil and garlic. BUT, the baby ones, the slightly purple ones we have here are the very best to eat raw–in a salad of VERY thin slices of the pared and topped artichoke tossed with lemon, olive oil, garlic and shaved parmesan over all, or in carciofi alla romana, a standard dish in winter and spring in Rome and everywhere and one I make here with our lovely bounty.

food for thought artichoke

Rules for chokes

Refrigerate them before prep–makes it much easier to snap off the outer leaves, which you have to do to get to the yellow succulent centers. I happen to have a friend with donkeys and they LOVE those leaves, so you don’t waste them if you know an animal who loves artichokes! They do not compost well, as there is very little ‘heart’ to scrape off with your teeth, so I toss them out or give them to the donks. I’m ruthless with baby artichokes.
I take off leaves down to the yellow (do this first, easier to get a grip on the leaves), then cut off the tops about an inch down, and pare the stems, if they come with stems–they usually have 2-inch steams and I peel them with a carrot peeler before cooking, or cut them off entirely and steam them just to eat or make a spread for artichoke tapenade.
Keep prepared artichokes in a plastic bag in the fridge until use on the next day or so.
To fry baby artichokes: Toss the sliced artichokes in a bag with flour, salt, pepper and paprika (just for color) and sauté in olive oil until nicely browned on all sides. Serve with lemon slices. These are killer!! They can be made ahead of serving time and reheated at the last minute. If they are larger chokes, cover them for a few minutes as they cook through on low heat, then remove the lid and let them ‘crisp’ again.
Leave them whole for steamed artichokes: Put them in a pot (with a lid) with olive oil, garlic, and salt. Cook on all sides for a few minutes, then lower heat, add a cup of white wine, and steam in the pot for a good 30 minutes. They are best when really soft. The wine will almost disappear. When they are very tender, add fresh chopped mint, turn off the fire and let them sit. These are served at room temp. I adore them and cannot get enough, but a warning: they are incredible roughage!!! Better than bran, haha.
6. Salad: slice pared baby chokes very thin. Bring a pot of water to a boil and throw in the slices for 1 minute only. Drain, toss with lemon, garlic, olive oil and let sit to marinate a bit. Shave fresh parmesan over the top before serving.

Recipe

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Meet the chef

P-O Life reader, Suzanne Dunaway, has cooked since she was 5 years old, when she made cinnamon pinwheels from her mother’s pastry dough.

She LOVES to cook. Some might say she LIVES to cook. The smells, the tastes, the textures…

She is a firm believer in simplicity and creates her recipes in the ethos of ‘anyone can cook’.

After years of experience in her own kitchen, cooking schools and private classes all over the world, in this weekly blog, Suzanne shares with us her PO-inspired creations.

With many strings to her bow, she is also an artist and columnist, with two published cookbooks.

Get a copy of her ‘No Need to Knead: Handmade Artisan Breads in 90 Minutes’ here

Or her 5 star rated book ‘Rome, at Home: The Spirit of La Cucina Romana in Your Own Kitchen’ here

Check out her other recipes

All content and recipes are copyright of Suzanne Dunaway.