Finally! Artichokes show up maybe one to two weeks a year in my store and this time I snagged some. I was thrilled. The problem? I had no idea what to do with them.
My only experience with artichokes was from a jar. I had only eaten the marinated hearts and when I told my mom I bought a whole artichoke she said, “You can’t eat that!” I replied, “Really?” She said, “No… you can’t eat that! Just the hearts, Suzie.”
So confusing! Friends on Facebook who I adore and chat with almost every day suggested stuffing them. OK, if you stuff it, then you must eat it, right?
The Inspiration
I found this recipe for Roasted Stuffed Artichokes and I was completely seduced by the photographs. I adore roasted vegetables and stuffing them sounded like a genus idea to me. When I told Reg what I was making he said, “That sounds like something I won’t like.” I sighed and said, “I know.”
I chopped off the stem but left enough to keep the artichoke together.
I trimmed the remaining surrounding leaves with scissors. (I had seen that on Martha Stewart’s show years ago). I continued to cut off the very top tips. The recipe just said to chop off the “top part” and there were no photos so I had to wing it.
It also said nothing about cleaning them and, ahem, hello… I clean everything! I bounced and jostled them in a bowl of clean water.
This is one of the reasons I chose the recipe. I found it fascinating that she decided not to scoop out the middle leaves to remove the fuzzy “choke”. Instead she cut into the side and used a knife to get to it. I used a melon baller to remove the choke which easily came out.
The inside really does brown right away. I can see why some people immediately put them in acidulated water.
I made my own beautiful stuffing inspired by the recipe but it created way too much. BTW, if you do try this recipe, you will not need 1 cup of breadcrumbs. I hate waste. I would cut the entire stuffing for the recipe in half.
Yup, way too much for two artichokes! Holy crap!
But I did it. I stuffed it into each and every nook and cranny, not wanting to waste it but there was still a ton leftover.
Her method of cooking worried me. Every tutorial I watched on YouTube pretty much steamed the hell out of the artichokes before roasting. Yet, this was one of the reasons I wanted to try this recipe. It was different. Will I ever learn?
I doubled the amount of warm broth she put on the bottom because I was worried the vessel would run dry even with the top on. The one major mistakes that was totally my bad was forgetting to drizzle with olive oil. I put this in a 375F oven for 90 minutes.
Talk about scorched earth veggies! Oh dear. They were so dark, dry and horrid I could barely capture a photo at all.
Being a fearless foodie, I managed to tear a leaf off and try and eat it. For at least two minutes. Fibrous, dry, my fabulous stuffing tasted terrible… I ended up giving up. I did the one smart thing I could. Listen to my mom and dig out the heart. That was edible.
I later got an email from my foodie friend Jane who wrote… scrape the end of the leave through your teeth – you are only eating the “meat” at the end of the leaf.
No way! Well that made a hell of a lot more sense to me and again, Mom was right. As always.
Heeeeeelp me, help me, help me!
And no, I did not dare let Reg even see these monstrosity. He would never go near it in his lifetime if I had and of course, I am going to try to make them again. If I can find them.
For those artichoke aficionados out there, a little advice would totally rock because I obviously do not know what the hell I am doing.
I’ve never eaten an artichoke in my life. So you are more adventurous than me, Suzie! We learn from our failures. And yes, Mom is always right, LOL!
Hey Suzie, I’ve always wanted to try stuffed artichokes, the recipe itself sounds amazing.
When we were kids, mom would steam them whole stovetop (no trimming either, except a little off the stem). She would then make a dipping vinaigrette for the leaves, basic olive oil, vinegar, salt/pepper. Once the artichoke cooled, we would patiently eat them leaf by leaf, dipping each leaf in the vinaigrette, then as your foodie friend Jane instructed, scrape them through our teeth. You can’t eat the whole leaf, way too fibrous. Once we got to the middle, scraped out the fuzz and you have the nice meaty stem and heart which we would cut up and drizzle with more vinaigrette and eat. That’s really the only way I’ve ever had them.
I tried making them here for my family, but everyone was very neutral and not overly impressed with them so I don’t make them anymore. Besides, I think I’m still traumatized by the one I had as a kid, I pulled a leaf off and out poked a lovely, living green caterpillar that survived the steaming. Needless to say I was freaked out and couldn’t eat them for awhile after that lol…
wikiHow has a cute tutorial for what I just described, hope it helps if you decide to venture it again 🙂
http://www.wikihow.com/Eat-an-Artichoke
Really Debra, never?! Wow, you totally made me feel better, thanks and I’ll pass the word on to my mom. She’ll love knowing she was right.
Ava, interesting, thank you so much for sharing your Mom’s technique. That’s actually also very similar to how Jane said to dress them. Reg hates vinegar so that’s why I went with stuffing them instead.
Oh that’s too bad you went to all that effort and the family wasn’t impressed. I know that will eventually probably happen with Reg too.
Oh god! OK, now that story is scaring the crap out of me! Ugh! Ugh!!!!! Oh man, I just bought some more and now I am scared to see what’s inside!!!!!! LOL!!!!
Really Debra, never?! Wow, you totally made me feel better, thanks and I’ll pass the word on to my mom. She’ll love knowing she was right.
Ava, interesting, thank you so much for sharing your Mom’s technique. That’s actually also very similar to how Jane said to dress them. Reg hates vinegar so that’s why I went with stuffing them instead.
Oh that’s too bad you went to all that effort and the family wasn’t impressed. I know that will eventually probably happen with Reg too.
Oh god! OK, now that story is scaring the crap out of me! Ugh! Ugh!!!!! Oh man, I just bought some more and now I am scared to see what’s inside!!!!!! LOL!!!!
Hey Suzie,
Funny thing that you would mention messing up artichokes because my mom and I just made them a couple days ago!
This is how I was taught to do it…
Firstly, pick a good artichoke! Make sure there isn’t any weird coloring and that the leaves are nice and tight still. The more bloomed it is, the less fresh it is. Prep the artichokes by cutting off the spiny things on the leaves. In a large pot with a steam basket or something to keep them off the bottom, fill the bottom inch or so with water and bring that to a simmer. Place the artichokes on the steaming basket thing, right side up, and let em steam 45min to an hour. You’ll know they’re done when you can easily stick a fork into the stem and pull it out. For a dip, my mom likes to mix some mayo, mustard, and a touch of sugar. I like mayo and garlic. And yes, you’re not supposed to eat the whole leaf, just the soft, squishy, meaty part that you scrape off with your teeth.
Best of luck if you get to try again!
I’ve always wanted to try those. Yours look great