It was a good and fair fight. The artichoke came out on top. Its funny how until this day, I had never prepared one of my favourite things to eat. I will admit, I was scared to attempt to prepare them. I always avoided them. They look amazing, but scary. How they grow is even more impressive. I bet, most of you dont even know what a fresh artichoke even looks like or thats its possible to eat the leaves, not only the heart. I wanted to tackle my fear of them so I bought some at the souk last week. If you dont challenge yourself, things get boring and you wont progress.
They are not a very popular vegetable here, there was only one guy selling them. I was soon to find out why. I bought 12. They were quite big. I came to work early, not knowing how long it would take to prep them. I was planning to serve them whole so guests could eat the leaves with homemade caper mayo and then finally, reveal the exquisite heart. And then I was thinking of braising them in a homemade vegetable stock along with freshly podded peas and lemon. This was all a fantasy. It took me an hour to prep them, I nearly lost a finger and the inedible hairy choke part you discard made the floor look like a hairdressers. It didn’t yield nearly enough quantity either. I was frustrated but didn’t despair. I cooked them with some lemon and parsley and then tossed them in olive oil, salt and pepper. They tasted delicious, but didn’t look anything like what you find marinating in a jar. So what I did was quite simple and brilliant. I hid the tasty but deformed hearts in a dip. Garlic, olive oil, creme fraishe, the artichoke hearts and some seasoning. I pureed them to creamy deliciousness perfect for dipping bread. It didn’t turn out too bad really. Until next week Mr. Artichoke… I will master you.