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Old February 10, 2017   #23
Fritz77
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Join Date: May 2016
Location: Siena-Monteriggioni, Italy
Posts: 213
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I love artichokes. It must be a family trait. My dad and I adore them and we both hate cabbage, broccoli and all that stuff. I could say they are probably my second favorite vegetable after…guess what. They are very easy to grow. Plant a scion in the ground and it will spread quickly. Artichokes don’t mind cold weather at all, at least the kind of cold weather we get over here. Hunt-Grow-Cook is right: they are almost invasive. That’s why I got rid of the two plants I had in the garden.
As far as eating/cooking, there are many ways. One of the best for me is eating them raw . That is cleaning an artichoke (pic. #1 shows what to peel and what to cut), disposing of the outer leaves which are way too hard, dipping the softer leaves in extravirgin olive oil+salt+black pepper you have poured and mixed in a small cup, and eating the yellow lower part of the leaves (as you go on they’ll get softer and you can eat more including the heart of the artichoke, my favorite part of it). The next morning you’ll have a sharp, bitter taste in your mouth. Mmm yummy.
Another less “brutal” way to eat them is to cut them pretty thin (pic. # 2) and cook them for not too long in the wok with EV oil, or butter if that matches your taste better, salt and jowl bacon. I prefer them to be crispy and not too soft. This will be a perfect sauce for your pasta. If it’s too delicate for your taste, add a few black olives and/or some of the zillion peppers you pepper growers have. You’ll love it.
For these two purposes, especially the first one, I find violet artichokes to work better. If you plan on stuffing them and cooking them in the oven, I think the round green globe varieties suit better.
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File Type: jpg art saltati.jpg (463.4 KB, 60 views)
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