Weekend Artichokes
Weekend artichoke recipe: Saturday Night Side and Sunday Morning Brunch.
Saturday Night: Roman artichokes to serve as a side-dish For 2-4 People.
Sunday Morning: Florentine “Tortino di Carciofi” for a rich brunch. Serves 2-4 people.
Ingredients:
Saturday night side dish
- 8 artichokes with their stems (try not to use the soccer ball sized ones found in the states, smaller ones are better!)
- 4 cloves garlic
- Fresh Parsley
- one bunch Fresh Mint, a few leaves - should be subtle!
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Salt and Pepper
- Lemon juice
- Water in a bowl
- Drop of white wine
Sunday Brunch
- 2 whole eggs + 2 egg whites
- 1 tablespoon milk
- 1 teaspoon self-rising flour
- salt and pepper
- 1 tablespoon butter
- left-over artichokes, quartered
Instructions:
Saturday night side dish
- Prepare cold water and lemon juice in a bowl and have it near where you are preparing artichokes.
- Remove (snap off) all the hard outer leaves of the artichoke.
- Cut off the tip of the stem, and peel off the outer layer of the stem with a knife.
- Cut off the top of the artichoke flower.
- With a knife or kitchen scissors, hollow out the inside of the artichoke and remove any sharp or fibrous things you might find inside (some artichokes tend to be “furry” inside, while other tend to have claws!)
- Soak artichoke asap in the water and lemon juice so it doesn’t turn black! Now prepare the flavors:
- Peel, then cut your garlic cloves in half.
- Finely chop mint and parsley leaves.
- Drain artichokes well, lightly dry them with paper towel, then stuff each one accordingly, first with 1/2 glove garlic, then with parsley and mint mixture.
- In a medium pot, heat olive oil (but don’t let it smoke!). Add in the artichokes head down and then add about a 1/2 inch of water and a drop of white wine.
- Cover the pot and allow to cook for 10-15 minutes, depending on how big the artichokes are. There should be enough liquid in the pot that they steam cook while standing on their heads.
If you want to serve these as a main course instead of a side dish, add some sausage or ground meat to the filling (meat + mint/parsley + garlic).
If you have leftovers, you can make something very sensual for brunch in bed on Sunday:
Sunday Brunch
- Preheat oven to 375.
- You will need a frying pan that is oven safe (no plastic handles).
- Quarter your left over artichokes length-wise.
- Heat butter in frying pan and allow artichokes to get a little crispy in the butter. Remove from heat. Turn oven OFF.
- In a deep bowl, beat 2 eggs, milk, then self-rising flour. In another bowl, beat egg whites until fluffy. Now, gently fold the egg whites into the egg and flour mixture.
- Pour this mixture into the frying pan ASAP, and place it into the heated oven.
- Will be ready in 5-6 minutes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and serve immediately. It will be fluffy, and the edges will be flaky. It will come out of the pan with ease.
Great with mimosas, champagne or prosecco… Consider serving it with a few slices of toast.
