My parents grow globe artichokes in their garden, and this year I am here at the right time, to catch some of these.
I usually prepare them in a very classic manner, only with vinaigrette. My boyfriend prefers his with a simple lemon and olive oil dip. So I give you both recipes.
I was a little bit shocked to see how many vine louse (Blattlaus) lived in the artichokes, would have never guessed that. And while I thought I did a good job washing them all away, while eating the artichokes, I saw, that I didn’t :-)
Well, they were still delicious.
So this is how I eat globe artichokes:
ingredients globe artichokes
- 1 big Globe artichoke per person (or 2 smaller ones)
- 2 Tbsp (red wine) vinegar
- salt
My mother taught me to cook the artichokes in salted water with a lithe vinegar. I have forgotten, or maybe never asked, why, but I follow this rule, and I guess it changes the flavor, so that’s how I like them. Do you happen to know, why there should be vinegar in the cooking water? Please share.
So I put the washed artichokes, stems trimmed to 2 cm, in a big pot and cover them with cold water. Add salt and vinegar and turn up the heat. As soon as the water is boiling, turn down the heat and ket simmer for at least 45 min. Depending on the size of your artichokes it will be more likely an hour or so until done.
Turn them after 20 min and check if there its still enough cooking liquid, if not, top with boiling water.
After 40 min you can check the first time, if the artichokes are ready. Tear one leaf from row 3, don’t take the outer leaves, because they are tougher and this will lead to overcooked artichokes. If the leaf comes off easily, the artichokes are ready. If not, go on cooking them, and check every 15 min.
Don’t be disappointed, if you don’t get the perfect cooked artichoke the first time. I over and undercooked mine a lot of times, and still so …
If you think, they are done, scoop them out of the cooking liquid (attention, very hot, don’t use your hands, like I tend to do …), but reserve the liquid, because, if they happen to be too hard, you can easily put them back and go on cooking.
Put them on a plate and transfer tot he table.
And here are the two different sauces I prepare:
ingredients vinaigrette
- 6–8 Tbsp olive oil
- 4 Tbsp balsamico
- 1–2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1 small shallot, finely chopped
- 1 Tbsp parsley, finely chopped
- pepper & salt
Top the minced shallot with a pinch of salt and the vinegar and let marinate for a few minutes. If you only have balsamic, you can leave out the wine vinegar. In that case, my mixture is 1:1 with the olive oil. I like my vinaigrette to be quite sour.
Mix in the parsley and olive oil, season to taste worth a generous amount of pepper and salt.
ingredients lemon olive oil dip
- 4 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 4 Tbsp olive oil
- pepper & salt
This dip is very simple. Just mix olive oil and lemon juice and season to taste.
And now all you have to do is, to dip leaf after leaf into your desired sauce, scoop a bit out and scrape the flesh off with your teeth.