Cooking with globe artichokes
I cannot resist globe artichokes; I could quite happily eat one every day. If they are on the menu in a restaurant I will always choose them. They are an acquired taste and many people have never even tasted them except maybe the artichoke hearts that find their way on to pizzas.
I grew to love globe artichokes when I lived in Sicily and we grew loads of them. We made a variety of recipes with them and we also preserved jars of the hearts in olive oil.
I love the way you peel off a leaf at a time and with your teeth, drag the soft tissue off the leaf. But the best is when you get to the heart and you reach all that beautiful soft flesh. A good artichoke should be tightly closed and firm.
How I prepare globe artichokes
Cut across the top of each artichoke to create a flat surface.
Bang them top-side down on a board to get them to open up so that you can fill them with salt and pepper. Sometimes I also add chopped garlic and parsley.
Leave about half an inch of stalk as that is also edible if the artichoke is not too mature.
Stand them in a saucepan (you need to wedge them together to stop them from falling over) with about an inch of water. Add your preferred seasoning inside them.
Boil them gently for about half an hour. Pull out a leaf from an artichoke to see if it's cooked.
Once cooked, drizzle olive oil inside each artichoke. Some people like to make a vinaigrette to dip the leaves in but I prefer simply olive oil, parsley and garlic.
You may also like to read
This is the most divine curry recipe by Sydney based O Tama Carey who has a fantastic Sri Lankan restaurant in Darlinghurst called Lankan Filling Station. The curry is worth the four hours that it takes to slow cook in the oven. The flavours are divine and the pork belly melts in the mouth. This recipe is in Tama’s cookbook Lanka Food which I highly recommend.