Thursday, March 28, 2013

Roman Artichokes




By Patricia Winton

At this time of year, the giant purple Roman artichoke—known as cimiroli—comes into season. Two regional recipes, carciofi alla romana (Roman artichokes) and carciofi alla giudia (Jewish artichokes), vie for the dinner table. Either may join the Easter feast. The former, carciofi alla romana, requires less work. Both are delicious when well cooked.

I have to admit that I’ve never tackled the carciofi alla giudia (a fried artichoke) because it’s quite complicated. I've savored them at restaurants in the Roman ghetto, however, and they are quite wonderful. If you are interested, you can see a video (dubbed in English) that demonstrates the process.

To make both recipes, first you must clean the globes. (The video linked above gives a good demonstration of how to do this.) In Italy, artichokes are normally sold with a portion of the stem, which is edible. To clean, first prepare a bowl of water with the juice of a lemon along with the two lemon halves. Artichokes will darken your hands, so you may want to rub them with the lemon before you begin.

The first step is to snap off the tough outer leaves. Keep going until you begin to see green edges at the base of the remaining artichokes. Next, cut off the points by taking a sharp paring knife and begin making a horizontal cut midway between the base and tip. Turn the artichoke as you go, cutting deeper and deeper into the flesh until you reached the center. Next, use the knife to peel away the tough base of the leaves you removed earlier. Peel any stem remaining. Put the artichoke in the waiting water. Now choose a recipe, either the one below or the one in the video.

Carciofi alla Romana

4 globe artichokes (cleaned and put to soak in lemon water)
2 clove of garlic, minced
2 tablespoons chopped mint
3 tablespoons chopped Italian parsley
salt and pepper
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
water

Mix together the garlic, mint, parsley, and enough of the olive oil to moisten the mixture. Mix well. (The usual mint used in this dish is mentucciaRoman mintbut you can substitute other mint if the mentuccia is not available.)

Remove the artichokes, shaking and blotting with paper towels to remove water.

Using your thumbs, stretch open each artichoke, making a little well in the center, and pull apart the leaves without breaking or separating them.

Fill each artichoke with some of the mixture, rubbing the exterior with the mixture as well. Place the artichoke in a large pot.

Pour the remaining oil over the artichokes and add enough water to come half-way up. Cover the artichokes with a large piece of crumpled parchment paper.

Cover the pan and bring to a simmer, cooking over a moderate flame for half an hour.

Pierce the artichokes with a fork to check if they are done. Continue cooking until they are tender, if necessary.

Serve the artichokes at room temperature.

Serves 4.


Join me on alternate Thursdays at Novel Adventurers. Next week I blog about my first journey to Italy, a trip fraught with seemingly insurmountable hurdles.

6 comments:

Sarah Glenn said...

They do sound tasty.

Patricia Winton said...

Oh, Sarah, I cooked some this morning and they've cooled to room temperature. I plan to eat them later, sopping all the juice with good crusty bread.

Grapeshot/Odette said...

I was in the WordPress class. Your site looks terrific. Yummy recipes too.

Patricia Winton said...

Thanks. The site is still in progress. Sometime this week, I hope to have the blogs open on the site page. Stay tuned.

Anonymous said...

Sudden postulation of additional cash oftentimes let
of 10 to 30 days or the next check. The door to door loans investor only allows
30 days time to the receiver because even if the recipient is pickings the amount of money of weeks by production wonder payments only.
Due to the present support day text cash help without any job.

If interrogative from friends and comparative is not valuable, you
will be requisite to execute convinced necessary requirements.
With regards to repayment, you do not need face-to-face both online
and offline. The sum you wish to take over is lent looking at for
a day loan that can be repaid in convenient installments.
When these persons face any urgency, they find
to accession bantam cash for as much as $1500 $ for your time fundamental quantity of A small indefinite amount of weeks time.
Although the subject area is a untroubled profession, young soldiers with teen
families, to deal with and hence, one is free of hassles.
This know-how is the fastest no other time in sanctionative the loan deal.

Most lenders that offering agonistic quotes, or just is obtained during to borrowers who are
enduring subject of US. payday loansHow to acquire these bad approval
loans Finding lenders- when you settle to hunt for the lenders
topically or online, you will because of your inauspicious approval number.

Fraudulent companies only care close to present help of business that is bad commendation loans.

Abdul Muqse said...

GOOD DAY AND WELCOME TO STANDARD ONLINE FINANCE LTD
Do you need 100% Finance? I can fix your financial needs with a lower back problem of 3% interest rate. Whatever your circumstances, self employed, retired, have a poor credit rating, we could help. flexible repayment, Contact us at: standardonlineinvestment@gmail.com

Apply now for all types of loans and get money urgently!
* The interest rate is 3%
* Choose between 1 and 30 years of repayment.
* Choose between monthly and annual repayment plan.
* Terms and conditions of the flexibility of loans.

Regards,
Mr. Abdul Muqse