Little Artichokes
by Mark Bittman
A lesson I learned this spring: if you have artichokes in your
kitchen, you will find new ways to cook them.
While traveling throughout Western Europe intermittently since
February, I saw them eaten raw, braised, sauteed and fried, served
solo or with lamb, shrimp, octopus or pasta. And I internalized, as I
never had before, that artichokes are not a precious ingredient but a
regular vegetable and can be treated as such.
In a way they remind me of lobster: they're so great steamed, with
lemon or butter, that you forget that it's easy enough to take them
a step or two further.
On my extended periods at home, I bought artichokes whenever I saw
decent ones. It didn't hurt that they don't seem too expensive this
year.
I began not only duplicating beloved recipes from past years, a
seasonal ritual with many of my favorite ingredients, but also
improvising with them.
The best consequence of all that was this quick saute, in which as I
was trimming my artichokes I began piling them, cut side down, into a
pan filmed with hot oil.
(I'm not a big fan of soaking artichokes in acidulated water to keep
them green, for three reasons: one, it's a hassle; two, it doesn't
work that well unless you make the water so acidic that it changes
the taste; and three, I don't mind olive-green artichokes.)
With them, I cooked garlic, tomatoes and olives - I used oil-cured,
but any good olives will do. It's a simple and obvious enough
combination, but a fabulous one as well.
The dish is a bit easier when made with little artichokes (or baby
ones; they're not exactly the same), whose chokes are either
nonexistent or small enough to ignore, and which can therefore be
prepped a little bit faster than their larger cousins.
You can deal with them at the rate of about one per minute, so a
dozen or so doesn't take much more than 10 minutes. (Details for
trimming are in the recipe below.)
But if you can't find the little ones, trimming the big ones (cut
them in half lengthwise to remove the choke) doesn't require much
more time.
Little Artichokes, Provencal Style
==================================
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, crushed, then peeled
Fresh thyme or rosemary, optional
1/2 cup flavorful black olives, pitted
Salt
12 little (or baby) artichokes
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved or left whole, or about
1 1/2 cups any other tomatoes, chopped
Chopped fresh parsley leaves for garnish
1. Combine oil and garlic in a large skillet (cast iron is good),
over low heat. When garlic sizzles, add herb, olives and a pinch
of salt.
2. Meanwhile, one at a time, prepare artichokes: remove hard leaves,
then cut off spiky end, about an inch down from top; trim bottoms,
cut artichokes in half, and add them to pan as they are ready, cut
side down. When about half of them are in pan, raise heat so they
brown a bit; move them around as you add remaining artichokes so
that they brown evenly.
3. When artichokes brown, add tomatoes and a splash of water. Cook
until chokes are tender, 10 to 20 minutes. Add water if needed.
Adjust seasoning, garnish and serve hot or at room temperature.
'The will of God will never take you where the Grace of God will not keep you
~Sugar
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