Posts tagged artichokes
Surprise, surprise – Artichoke and potatoes papillote Provençale
Mar 8th
Surprise, surprise – Papillotes d’artichauts et pommes de terre à la Provençale
If you like a light and healthy cuisine and yet very easy to prepare, well papillotes are for you. This cooking technique can accommodate any ingredient, fish, meat, fruits, vegetables, etc… and papillotes can be prepared in advance and are cooked at the last minute, so you don’t have to spend hours in the kitchen when the guest are having fun.
Even though easy to prepare, there are some basic rules that need to be followed when preparing a papillote, such as cutting finely and regularly the fruits or vegetables to reduce cooking time and keep the flavors. Also marinating some fishes, seafood, or poultry to enhance the dish. Aren’t those a delightful way to serve your side dish when you have guests? It’s like a little present on your plate, you open it like a candy et voilà, surprise!
You can play with the folding of the papillote, as a rectangle, triangle, as a candy shape, or even heart shape and be creative with it.
Today I found those gorgeous and fresh baby artichokes at my favorite market, and I gave them a provençal makover. You need small creamer potatoes that will remain firm when cooked and you get a delicious dish avec un petit air de Provence. These papillotes would be perfect served with a white fish or poultry. I ate mine as a main meal and it was perfect.
While in France I searched all the new products such as salts, peppers, etc…I found this amazing salt and I fall madly in love with it. It’s a sel gris de Guérande (Grey Guérande salt) with Piment d’Espelette (a fragrant Basque pepper), I love it so much that I just add it in any dish. You could make this yourself, if you buy Piment d’Espelette and Sel gris de Guérande, then mix them together and keep them in an air-tight container for a while to get the salt infused.
You can add sun dried tomatoes and onions to give a little more character to the dish. Also, both aluminum foil or parchment paper can be used, so have fun with your papillotes!
Ingredients for 2
- 1/2 lb baby artichokes, trimmed and cut in halves
- 1/2 lb creamer potatoes, cut in halves
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 2 tbs dry white wine
- 1 tsp herbes de Provence
- about 10 kalamata olives
- Sel de Guérande au Piment d’Espelette (optional)
- 1 tbs olive oil
- salt and pepper
Preparation
Heat olive oil in a pan, add garlic and stir for a few seconds, then add artichokes and potatoes. Coat the vegetables with the olive oil, then add wine. Decrease heat and cover with lid. Cook for about 5 minutes. In a mixing container, add vegetables to herbes de Provence, olives, sun dried tomatoes (if using them), Piment d’Espelette salt and pepper. Mix well.
In a aluminum foil, add a little olive oil, place vegetables on top and close papillote very tightly so no air can get through it.
Cook in a pre-heated oven at 370F for about 15 minutes. remove from the oven and serve.
Salad or not salad? – Salad of grain medley with cannellini, shrimps, artichokes in a herb-lemon dressing
Jul 12th
Salade ou pas salade? – Salade tiède de céréales et mélange aux haricots blancs, crevettes, artichauts, vinaigrette aux citron et herbes
Lately I have not been too well, that’s why I haven’t been posting any recipe on a regular basis like I used to, and my desire and energy for cooking has gone down, hopefully it will pick up at some point. I have no motivation for sitting in front of my computer either, but I sincerely miss everyone, people I met through this blog have been incredibly supportive, kind and generous. Thanks so much for anyone who reads my blogs and leaves genuine comments, they mean a lot to me. I apologize if I have had a difficult time to catch up with everyone, I have had very low energy level and some health issues, but hopefully will get back to my regular routine soon.
I started writing this recipe about three weeks ago and never managed to finish it, it took me forever…so here it is after such a long time. This salad is composed with a well balanced mixture of grains, vegetables, and proteins, such a nutritious and flavorful dish.
I call this a salad since it has a dressing but it can be called anything you like, and can be consumed lukewarm or cold. The particularity of this dish is that I mixed eight varieties of grains and seeds such as brown rice, oats, lentils, pumpkin seeds, etc… for a mixed variety of textures. Maybe you’ll think this look more like a bird meal to you than a gourmet salad. It is definitely questionable, but after you taste it, you will think bird ingredients can taste incredibly tasty.
The grains have been enhanced with vegetables, and seafood which complement the grains quite well. This is nothing complicated, you just need various grains in your pantry.
Ingredients for 2-3
- 200 g of mixed grains such as:
- brown rice
- wheat flakes
- sorghum rice
- buckwheat
- pearl barley
- black rice
- pearl rice
- red lentil
- 1 tbs roasted pumpkin seeds
- 10 large shrimps
- 4 medium artichokes
- 3 tbs dry white wine
- 70 g cannellini beans cooked (either dried or canned)
Ingredients for the herb-lemon vinaigrette
- 3 tbs avocado oil
- juice of one lemon
- zest of 1/2 lemon
- 1 tsp tarragon, chopped
- 1 tsp parsley, chopped
- 1 tsp chives, chopped
- 1 tbs red onion, finely chopped
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- one pinch cayenne pepper
- salt and pepper
Preparation
Mix all grains together and steam them. You can steam them the same way you would steam rice, even if there are many varities of grains, some of them cook a little faster than others but it does not make a big difference cooking them all together. You can use a rice cooker or use the regular technique using a simple pot.
Trim artichokes, removing the hard leaves around, and cutting off the top of the artichoke. Cut in quarters and place in a container filled with water and lemon juice to prevent the artichokes from darkening.
In a pan, heat olive oil, add 1 garlic clove, then drain artichokes and add to the pan, stir for a few minutes, coating the artichokes with garlic and oil, then add wine, salt and pepper. Stir well. Cover with a lid and cook at medium heat until artichokes are tender. Remove from heat and set aside.
Saute shrimps in olive oil, add salt and pepper and set aside.
In a large container, mix steamed grains with artichokes, cannellini beans, shrimps, pumpkin seeds. Pour vinaigrette on top by mixing all ingredients together. Stir well and serve. You can serve at room temperature or cold.
I like it upside down -Tart tatin with artichokes, caramelized onions and manchego cheese
May 14th
Je l’aime à l’envers – Tarte tatin aux artichauts, oignons caramélisés, et manchego
Who said tarte tatin is made with apples and is a dessert? Even though tarte tatin IS a traditional French dessert made with apples (most French restaurants do serve it on their menu with a scoop of vanille ice cream), we have tons of savory versions as well. Traditional tarte tatin comes from Sologne region where Caroline Tatin and a few nuns owned a restaurant in early 1900 (which still exists and is still called Restaurant Tatin). Their main clients were hunters, and a Sunday during hunting season while making an apple-based dessert, Caroline let the dessert burn, so she had the wonderful idea to add some extra dough and put it back in the oven…needless to say that was a huge success among hunters, and since then became a famous dessert. Out of a mistake, came out a wonderful dessert!
Basically tarte tatin is an upside down tart, now of course, you can play around with its ingredients and the savory versions are really a wonderful alternative to regular tarts.
The toppings and in this case, the artichokes are caramelized due to the juices of the ingredients falling down on the bottom of the dish. For the puff pastry, you can either make it, or buy sheets. I found some decent puff pastry that is not too greasy and remains fluffy and crunchy, so if you have time (about extra 2 hours) and have well mastered the art of puff pastry making, you can make it. In my case, it really depends on the time I have. Today I had little time to make it, so hello Whole Foods. The ingredients for the crust are for about 2 tarts, usually when I make puff pastry, I keep extra and use it when I have lots of guests.
For the ingredients you can use your imagination, this combination is well balanced and delivers a nice harmony of flavors. The sweetness of the onions allied with manchego and artichokes texture make it a delicious tart.
Ingredients for 3-4
For the puff pastry
- 8.8 oz (or 250 g) flour
- 6.5 oz (or 185 g) butter
- 4.4 oz (or 125 g) water
- 0.17 oz (or 5 g) salt
For the toppings
- 3-4 medium size artichokes
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 3 tbs dry white wine
- 2 onions, sliced
- manchego cheese, sliced (enough to cover the surface of your dish)
- 1 tbs balsamic vinegar
- 1 tsp fresh thyme, chopped
- salt and pepper
Preparation
For the puff pastry
In a working surface, place flour in the middle, add salt, then add water gradually, mixing with the flour to form a ball. Cross top of the ball with a knife and place in a plastic wrap to rest for about 30 minutes. Remove wrap and lay in a flat surface, spread it out with your hands to form a cross shape dough. With a rolling pin roll it flat and place soft butter in the middle. Bring sides of the dough towards the middle and flatten out with rolling pin. Fold again using same procedure about 6 times. Place in the refrigerator for 30-45 min after the second round and again after the fourth round.
For the tart
Start trimming the artichokes. Heat olive oil in a pan, add garlic, stir and add artichokes. Add wine, salt and pepper and cover with a lid, cook at medium heat until the artichokes are tender. Remove from pan and set aside.
In the same pan, heat olive oil, add onions. Cook at medium heat and let them caramelized. It will take about 15-20 minutes. Add balsamic vinegar, and let it reduce for about 1 minute. Add thyme, salt and pepper.
In a deep dish pan, place artichokes in the bottom to cover the surface of the pan. Add onions, then add manchego covering the surface of the onions.
Roll the puff pastry and place it on top of the ingredients. There will need extra pastry about 2 inches extra (your sheet will be 2 inches larger than the dish, the puff pastry tends to shrink while cooking). Make sure your ingredients are holding into place and using your hand firmly press on the puff pastry.
Cook in a pre-heated oven at 370-375F until the top of the puff pastry is nicely golden. Remove from the oven and turn upside down using a plate and serve immediately.
A sunny day – Mini pizza with red bell pepper pesto, grilled eggplants, artichokes and feta
Apr 25th
Una giornata soleggiata – Pizzette con pesto di peperoni, melanzane grigliate, carciofi e feta
If life leaves you pizza dough, make more pizza!!
I love mini sizes portions, and bites, I think there is some cuteness in the size of a small bite, you don’t have to cut it, destroy it in from of your eyes before it reaches your mouth. It fits there perfectly.
As far as pizza and coffee are concerned, I tend to be a real snob and compare all pizza to pizza in Italy, after all they invented it, so throughout the centuries, they have mastered the art of pizza making. There are a few good pizzeria in San Francisco where the pizza is close to Italian pizza (France has awful pizza, I remember a pizzeria in Nancy where I grew up called La Mamma, where they served pizza with gruyère cheese, that was terrible). I have no idea if the greatness of Italian pizza has to do with the brick oven where it’s cooked, with the natural flavor of the ingredients that is different, but it’s something hard to describe, the dough is thin and crunchy, there is little cheese and the cheese melts to perfection and does not hardens that quickly.
I am not going to discuss the perfect dough texture, or flavor, nor give the description of the perfect thread of melting mozzarella, (maybe if I was Balzac I could)! because I don’t think I have enough English vocabulary but it’s something you have to experience for yourself. I was thinking to build a brick oven in the garden mainly to cook pizza, but unfortunately the size of the garden will not allow it.
I think we all have our particularities in the way we approach certain traditions and traditional dishes.
We all have our favorite pizza, it can be deep dish, thin crust, with one or two toppings, etc…and that’s the way it should be. Eat pizza the way we like it.
These mini pizza are not what you would find in a traditional pizzeria in Italy even though last time I was there, I was invited by the family to try a pizzeria that had dessert pizza on their menu, such as orange pizza, chocolate and nut pizza, etc…and were surprisingly enough, really delicious.
These mini pizza combine the flavors of Mediterranean countries, and are delightful. The beauty of small bites is that you eat one or two and you feel satisfied, when you have a whole pizza in front of you, you feel somehow “obliged” to finish it (I do).
Ingredientsfor one large pizza or 4 small
For pizza dough
- 1/2 lb (or 250 g) flour
- about 5 fl oz (or 150 ml) lukewarm water
- about 0.4 oz (or 12 g) compressed yeast dissolved in the water
- 1.5 tbs olive oil
- salt
For the topping
- red pepper pesto – see here for recipe
- 4 small Italian eggplants, sliced
- 4 tbs feta
- 8 baby artichokes (+juice of 1 lemon)
- kalamata olives (optional)
- basil, chopped (optiona)
- olive oil for drizzling
Preparation
For the dough
Place flour in a working surface, gradually add yeast/water mixture, salt and oil. Mix well to obtain a soft dough, the dough should be elastic and souple, almost sticky. Cover with a towel and let it rise for about 2 hours.
For the topping
Grill the eggplant slices on a grill pan. Cut in halves and set aside. Trim the artichokes, removing the green leaves around, cut the top and cut in quarters. Place in a lemon juice/water bath to prevent them from staining. Saute in olive oil and garlic until tender. Adjust with salt and pepper.
Cut dough in four equal parts. Roll each dough portion with a rolling pin (or with your hands if you have mastered the art of twisting the dough). Spread some red pepper pesto on top of the dough, add eggplant, artichokes and feta, if you using olives add at this point.Adjust with salt and pepper if necessary but the feta and olives being already salty, you might decide not too.
Cook in a 390 F pre heated oven for about 20 minutes or until the bottom is cooked.
Pink girlie gnocchi – Red beet gnocchi with artichokes, goat cheese and chives
Apr 11th
I gnocchi rosa da donna – Gnocchi rosa con rape rosse, carciofi, caprino ed erba cipollina
I love to play with pasta colors, and I love colorful food, so today everything is pink. Don’t you like pink? I love to wear pink and eat it too! pink, pink, pink and more pink! such a calming and happy color.
Here is a dish that really makes me see la vie en rose, because no matter how careful I was, everything I touched in the kitchen turned pink, the flour paper bag, the oven buttons, and kitchen cabinets. After my pink tagliatelle with red beets, I wanted to make pink gnocchi just for the gorgeous color. It has been such a long time I haven’t made gnocchi, not that I don’t like them, but I think they tend to be too fulfilling for me.
Beets are often used in salads, and I think they can be used in so many ways, like to color pasta and doughs, since beets are often used as a food coloring.
I have been using quite a lot of goat cheese these days, I figured I would use parmesan instead, but since beets and goat cheese are too great of a match, I had no other choice than use it.
My mom’s gnocchi are very traditional made with a tomato base with rabbit and mushroom sauce, like they make in Romagna, so last time I was home and made her those crazy pink gnocchi, she got so excited and curious, non avrei mai pensato fare gli gnocchi colle barabietole! The great thing about my parents is that they taste everything I make even the most unconventional and nontraditional dishes (which is very rare for Italians in their 60s), and they are willing to try new things. Last time I went home, I brought some meat substitute made with soy, and that was the only thing they didn’t like, they tasted a bite and stopped there…but that is understandable, it looks like dog food!
The tricky part (yes there is one…maybe two) is the mashing of the beets, they need to be reduced in purée, so I mixed the potatoes and beets all together, then used a potato masher to crush them well and not leave any chunks of beets. Then when everthing was almost perfectly fine, I used a hand mixer to reduce everything into a smooth purée.
The other tricky part in these gnocchi making process is the flour quantity, I have added gradually flour to my mixture, so I won’t be able to give an exact amount, you will have to determine for yourself when to stop adding flour. Basically, the dough remains sticky, while rolling the strips, it’s ok add flour, but do not add too much flour to the dough mixture, or the gnocchi will be too hard.
Ingredients for 3-4
For the gnocchi dough
- 350 g potatoes (or 3 medium), cooked
- 200 g red beets, cooked
- 1 egg
- flour (1 cup or more)
For the sauce
- 5 medium sized artichokes
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1/2 cup of dry white wine
- 4 tbs goat cheese
- 2 tbs chives
- 2 tbs olive oil
- juice of one lemon
- salt and pepper
Preparation
In a mixing container, mash potatoes and red beets with a potato masher like mentioned above. You will get a smooth purée. Add one egg and flour. Mix well to combine all ingredients together and obtain a homogeneous dough. The dough needs to be slightly sticky but not too much, then while rolling the strips, you will add extra flour to prevent them from sticking to your working surface. Roll strips, and cut in small 1 inch nuggets. Then using the fork tines or a rigagnocchi (that tool used to curl the gnocchi), “curl” each of them.
Trim your artichokes, by removing the hard leaves around, and the trimming the top leaves. Cut in quarters and place in a large bowl of water with lemon juice (to prevent them from staining).
In a pan, heat olive oil, add garlic, then add artichokes, mix well, then add wine, salt and pepper. Cover and cook at medium heat until artichokes are tender.
In a large pot, bring salted water to a boil, then add gnocchi. When the gnocchi come out on the surface, they’re cooked. Drain them and add to the artichokes pan. Place in a large pasta dish, mix well. Add goat cheese, chives and extra olive oil. Mix carefully not to break the goat cheese. You can substitute parmesan or pecorino to fresh goat cheese.
Artichokes are back in town – Tagine of artichokes, chickpeas, potatoes, red peppers and olives
Mar 8th
Les artichauts sont de retour – Tagine d’artichauts, pois chiches, pommes de terre, poivrons, et olives vertes
It looks like artichoke season is starting and you see them come out on the shelves, one of the largest producer being close to the Bay Area in Castroville (they claim to be the artichoke capital of the world, which is quite a big statement, but they certainly do produce a lot of them), we have in San Francisco, lots of beautiful artichokes, the babies, the medium, the large, you pick which one you want. I even planted some in the garden, but seems like it takes over 300 days for them to grow, so I cannot count on my own crops this year!
I had some fresh chick peas left from last week and I just wanted to use them in a tagine. They remain green and taste so good but cook very quickly so when using them in a dish, they only need to cook for 15 minutes or so, therefore add them at the end. I love tagines, I could eat them every day. The flavors of all the spices infusing with all those wonderful vegetables is a pure pleasure to cook (and to eat of course too). After 10 minutes of placing the tagine in the oven, the house starts to be filled with incredibly aromas. It’s like a pure perfume. Ca embaume.
As in the majority of my tagines, I used Ras el hanout which is a traditional mix of Moroccan spices and literally means “the roof of the grocery store” in arabic. A few common spices included in Ras el hanout are cardamom, mace, cloves, nutmeg, pepper, lavender, ginger, nigella, turmeric, etc..but so many more. It’s used in Middle Eastern cuisine to enhance many dishes such as couscous, meat dishes, etc…
The composition of Ras el hanout can vary from 24 to 21 spices but can go as far as 40 spices, so there are so many variations of Ras el hanout as there are cooks, manufacturers and tastes. I bought a big bag of spices in a Moroccan grocery store in France that will last me my lifetime, and that is a very nice blend, not one spice overpowering the mix, and a very well balanced combination. Unfortunately the manufacturer did not include the list of the spices he used, so I am afraid I won’t be able to know what has been used and to what quantity. In France we have a huge Arabic population, probably the biggest among all other European countries, which means a lot of stores with great products and very inexpensive.
Anyone who loves artichokes and spices, will really enjoy this dish, besides the beauty of tagines is that it might take you a while to clean the artichokes, and peel the potatoes, but then you just put it in the oven and cooks by itself, comme une grande fille!
Ingredients for 4
- 2 large potatoes, peeled and cut in big squares
- 8 medium size artichokes, trimmed
- 5 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 large onion, thinly sliced
- 1 large red bell pepper, cut in big square
- 1 cup fresh chick peas
- 1.5 tbs Ras el hanout
- 1 preserved lemon, cut in 4 quarters
- 1/2 cup green olives, cut in halves
- chili powder
- salt and pepper
Preparation
In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients together except for the chick peas and using your hands mix well.
Place the vegetables in your tagine pot, cover and cook in a pre-heated oven at 390F for about one 1h30 min. Add chick peas 20 minutes before removing tagine from the oven. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve as a side dish or as a main dish, with a quinoa or couscous accompaniment.
Small dish but big flavors – Eggs cocotte with cream of zucchini, sundried tomatoes and artichokes
Mar 4th
Petit plat mais grandes saveurs – Oeufs cocotte, crème de courgette, tomates séchées et artichauts
Oeufs cocotte can be simple, refined, original, creative, or whatever you want them to be. No one can resist the charm of those more contemporary “oeufs cocotte“. The traditional oeufs cocotte were more sober and simple, but we have reinvented them with new ingredients. There so many ways to prepare those unctuous little eggs, this is one version among so many others. They make great appetizers when you have some guests who most of the time enjoy their little individual pot, they’re fun to make, to serve and to eat. So the fun is tripled.
Oeufs cocotte are very easy to prepare, you can prepare the ingredients in advance and assemble them at the last minute. The most difficult trick is the perfect cooking of the eggs. Some rules will allow you to master the technique of a perfect oeuf cocotte. Prepare a double boiler (bain marie) in a pre-heated oven so that when you place the eggs, the water will be slightly boiling. The cooking time of oeufs cocotte can vary, depending on the oven and the size of the eggs. Don’t wait to remove the eggs until the whites are cooked, remove them when they’re still runny. If you take them out when they’re just perfect, they will harden after being served.
In French cocotte means “hen“in slang, and is sometimes used as a endearing word for kids, allez ma cocotte viens voir mamie.
The cream of zucchini and artichokes combine two great textures and flavors together, the sundried tomatoes give it a pleasant Italian twist. Don’t forget the “mouillettes” with your oeuf cocotte, mouillettes are little sticks of bread to dip in the yolk! You cannot have oeuf cocotte sans mouillettes!
Ingredients for 4
- 4 zucchini, diced
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 tbs fresh thyme, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves
- about 16-20 baby artichokes
- 4 eggs
- 4 sundried tomatoes, diced
- 2 tbs white wine
- juice of one lemon
- 1 tbs olive oil
- salt and pepper
Preparation
Pre-heat oven at 375F. Place a double boiler (bain-marie) in the oven and let the water slightly boil.
In a pan, heat olive oil, add onions, let them brown. Add zucchini and thyme. Cover with lid and cook at medium heat until tender, add salt and pepper. Let it cool and blend in a mixer to obtain a purée. Set aside.
Start trimming artichokes. Remove the hard leaves outside, then trim to top with a knife cutting the green and hard part of the leaves. Fill a large bowl with water and lemon juice and place artichokes in it. The lemon juice will prevent artichokes from darkening.
In a pan, heat olive oil, add garlic and let it cook for a few seconds stirring. Drain artichokes and add to the pan, stir a one minute or so, then add white wine. Cover and cook at low heat until artichokes are tender, adjust with salt and pepper.
In a small ramequin, add cream of zucchini, then artichokes, sundried tomatoes, and top with an egg. Add fresh ground pepper.
Place the ramequins in the double boiler (bain-marie) and cook until the eggs whites are slightly runny, you will have to check occasionnally. Remove from the oven, sprinkle with parsley and serve with mouillettes (country bread taosted and cut in sticks). As an appetizer, it’s perfect with a small salad on the side.
Two friends in a pan – Radicchio and artichoke casserole
Dec 13th
Due amici in padella – Radicchio di Chioggia e carciofi in teglia
Radicchio al forno is a typical Northern Italian dish. I somehow added a little touch to it, by adding artichokes and topping it all with breadcrumbs, garlic and parsley. Artichokes and radicchio go perfectly well together, the sweetness of the artichoke blends beautifully with the bitterness of radicchio, and you get a wonderful side dish, or if you’re like me, just forget the “side” it’s just a dish in itself since I can eat the whole plate.
There are many different types of radicchio, the round and red one like this one is called radicchio di Chioggia which is mainly grown all year around. My parents would grow the green kind with long leaves that was really bitter much bitter than this one, and my mom made it with anchovies and garlic as a salad and even as a young child, I loved it. The bitter, the better. No wonder why I love Fernet, Cynar and anything that has a bitter taste.
Our neighbor when I was growing up was from Udine (Friuli region), Giovanni drove a Vespa and was speaking so so loud that we would wake up the whole neighborhood with his loud voice and Vespa honks, everyone called him “petrolette” because of his “honk honk”. Such a funny and sweet character with a huge heart and a terrible French. His French was terrible, and his Italian too, since he spoke mainly Friulan dialect, so even my parents had a tough time understanding him. Every Sunday, he would bring us so many bags of radicchio from his garden. Friulans eat an incredible amount of radicchio, it’s hard to keep up with them unless you’re a rabbit!
He moved back to Friuli with his wife when he retired, he must be around 80 now and anytime we go visit him, radicchio is always on the table twice a day and seven days a week. Let’s not forget the white polenta sliced and eaten along salame e radicchio!
Ingredients for 3-4
- 1 large head of radicchio, cut in thick slices
- 1 lb artichokes (baby ones or medium)
- 1/3 cup white wine
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 tbs parsley, finely chopped
- 1/3 cup plain breadcrumbs
- 1 lemon
- 3 tbs olive oil
- salt and pepper
Preparation
First start trimming the artichokes. Remove the tough green leaves, the with a knife, trim to top of the leaves and cut the green part around the bottom, close to the stem. You can either slice them if you are using the medium ones, or cut them in half if using the baby ones. Place in a bowl of water with the juice of one lemon, which will prevent the artichokes from discoloring.
Cut radicchio in half, then in slices of about 1 inch think.
In a pan, heat olive oil, crush one garlic clove and let the flavors out. Drain artichokes and add to the pan, stir for a few minutes, then add wine. Add salt and pepper and cover with a lid. Cook at medium heat until the wine has evaporated and the artichokes are cooked all the way through.
Add salt, pepper to the radicchio slices, and drizzle with olive oil. Grill in a grill pan, until radicchio changes color and is cooked but not mushy.
Add radicchio to artichokes pan and mix well.
In a small container, prepare the topping. Mix breadcrumbs, garlic, parsley, olive oil, salt and pepper.
Place radicchio/artichokes mixture in a oven dish and top with breadcrumb mixture. Cook in a pre-heated oven at 375F for about 20 minutes or until the top is golden brown.
Do you know Alain Carro? – Artichokes with squid from Alain Carro
Dec 4th
Vous connaissez Alain Carro? – Artichauts et calamars d’Alain Carro
I got a beautiful book for my birthday called Culina Mediterranea, the book must weight about 10 lb, is 4 inches thick, I can only read the book if it’s laying on a table, it’s too heavy to carry and impossible to be reading it in bed. This pavé (=rock) gathers the best recipes from some top chefs in the Mediterranean countries, such as Southern France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Marocco. There is not one recipe to throw away, they’re all so inviting, creative and delicious. I simply love that book, so from now on, I will dig maybe once every two weeks a recipe and just post it. This one is a recipe from Alain Carro who is a restaurateur in Provence. Do you know Alain Carro? Probably not, not sure he is famous in the US, but he is in France. He is not as popular as Alain Ducasse, Paul Bocuse or Joël Robuchon, but he still managed to get one star at the Michelin for his restaurant Le Castellaras located in Fayence. He himself got inspired for this dish by the creation of another famous chef Roger Vergé who lives close to Cannes.
I loved that recipe right away, I get tired of stuffed squid with crumbs, garlic and parsley, and this one was very appealing, the combination of artichokes, Pastis, white wine and squid convinced me to make it, and I knew it would be delicious. I don’t know about you, but most of the time, I know right away if I will like the recipe or not. I did not change anything to the recipe other than I used only olive oil instead of a combination of butter and olive oil. I am giving you the original recipe, you can substitute the butter with olive oil if you wish. Pastis adds a wonderful final touch of anis/fennel taste, and who can complain about the quantity of garlic? Certainly not me.
Squid remains a very popular dish in Mediterranean regions, and easy to prepare. My favorite part are the tentacles, they always remain a little hard on the bite but I love their texture. Artichokes we have in France are called “poivrade” and we eat the stem too, the are elongated and a little more purple that Californian artichokes. This dish has all the ingredients and flavors of Provencale cuisine. So if you want to take a trip to Provence, just start here.
Ingredients for 4
- 16 baby artichokes
- 1 lemon
- 2 carrots, peeled and cut crosswise in 1/4 inch think slices
- 2 onions, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, sliced
- 2 tbs olive oil
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 1 chicken bouillon cube
- 1 1/4 baby squid
- 1/8 stick butter (or 10 g)
For the parsley butter
- 1/4 stick (or 20 g) butter
- 1 bunch parsley
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 tsp Pastis or pernaud
- salt and pepper
Preparation
Start with trimming the artichokes, remove the hard part, and the top of the leaves. Place artichokes in water with lemon juice to prevent them from discoloring.
Heat butter and olive oil in a pan, add squid for 1-2 minutes until firm and the water evaporated. Set aside.
Heat olive oil in a skillet, add carrots, onions, garlic and bouquet garni (mixture of herbs, such as thyme, marjoram, parsley, etc…). Saute all the vegetables and bouquet garni for a few minutes, add salt and pepper.
Drain artichokes and add them to the pan of vegetables. Saute until the vegetables are golden brown. Sweat the vegetables on low heat for 15 minutes.
Deglaze the skillet with the white wine, and saute the vegetables for 5 minutes. Add bouillon cube and stir until it has dissolved.
Mix butter with parsley and garlic, add pastis. Add this mixture to the squid. Deglaze the pan with pastis. Season with salt and pepper and arrange in a plate, garnish with some chervil.
Little artichoke, how I missed you!…Artichokes, shrimps, farro and rucola salad with avocado oil and basil vinaigrette
May 26th
Carciofino, come mi sei mancato!…insalata di carciofi, gamberi, farro e rucola
Beautiful artichokes are one of my favorite vegetables, especially the baby ones…they’re small, tender, and make beautiful and delicious dishes. The only draw back is the preparation, and trimming, since it can take some time to remove the hard leaves and trim them, some people prefer to use easier to prepare vegetables. In French we say, quand on aime on ne compte pas, when you love, you don’t count, which is somehow the way I go along withe life and cuisine in general. What count is the result, not really the time spent in the kitchen (obviously when you have time).
The great thing about California, is that you get many fruits and vegetable locally grown so that availability of fresh and organic produces is huge.
In France we have similar baby artichokes but they’re purple and are called artichauts poivrade, very popular in the South of France, Italy and Spain.
My mom always brings form Italy cases of artichokes from my uncle’s garden, she keeps them half-cooked in jars, filled with olive oil, garlic and herbs and uses them to put on top of pizza or to eat as is as antipasto, with prosciutto. Those can be preserved that way for over 6 months and are delicious, crunchy, full of flavors since they’re infused in olive oil and herbs.
The other wonderful ingredient in this recipe is the Farro (or spelt), it’s the Italian name of the grain, also used in English. In France it’s called épeautre and is one of the oldest grain, very rich in protein and cultivated in Italy at the foot of the Alps in a region called Garfagnana. It is a very robust plant that grows in tough climate and is resistant to cold, therefore, its culture does not need pesticides and other chemical such as wheat does, that’s why Italian farro is a part of organic agriculture.
Ingredients for 2
- 10 large uncooked shrimps
- 1/2 lb farro
- 2 hanful rucola
- 10 small baby artichokes
- 10 cherry tomatoes
- 1 garlic clove, chopped
- 3 tbs dry white wine
- salt and pepper
For the vinaigrette
- 2 tbs avocado oil
- 1 tbs orange-champagne vinegar (or any other citrus vinegar)
- 1 tbs chopped basil
- 1 garlic crushed
Preparation
Cook farro in 3 times its quantity of water for about 20-25 minutes. Drain and set aside.
Trim the artichokes removing the outside leaves and cutting the tip of the heart to keep just the tender and yellowish heart. Cut in quarters and place in a bowled filled with water and lemon juice to prevent the artichokes from darkening.
Saute artichokes with garlic in olive oil, stir and add white wine, salt and pepper. Cover and cook until the artichokes are tender.
Saute shrimps in olive oil salt and pepper.
In a salad bowl, mix farro, artichokes, shrimps, let it cool a little, then add tomatoes and rucola.
For the vinaigrette, mix all ingredients together, mix well and add to the salad. Toss and serve.
