I love steamed whole artichokes. I like to eat them slowly and make my way to the center, remove the choke and eat the heart. Sounds a bit ghoulish but in fact it is simply messy. I don't know of any way to eat or serve a whole artichoke without everyone hanging his or her head over the plate to prevent spills.
Many years ago I was making dinner and lost track of time. I had the artichokes on the flame in a pressure cooker for more than 35 minutes. When I opened the pot and took them out, all the leaves came away from the stem and the very inside tender leaves were mush. I was not happy with myself, but I managed to rescue the bigger leaves and put them on a large plate. As I separated the usable from the unusable it struck me that the rescued leaves would make a beautiful sunflower shape with a bowl in the middle for dipping.
Ever since that day, I have served artichoke leaves as a amuse bouche for a medium or large dinner party. I no longer use a bowl of vinaigrette in the middle of plate since it encourage double dipping. But it remains there to hold to the leaves that have already been eaten. And now I remove the outer leaves before I cook the artichokes and save the tender inside to make risotto.
BT's Artichoke Leaf Amuse Bouche
Ingredients:
2-3 large, very fresh globe artichokes
1 tablespoon kosher salt - for cooking
2 tablespoons aged red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
4 tablespoons fruity olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt - for dressing
4 grinds black pepper
Directions:
Wash artichokes thoroughly
Using scissors, remove the sharp tips from the leaves
Remove choke, heart and inner leaves of artichoke and reserve for another purpose
Place in pressure cooker and cover with enough water so that leaves are submerged
Add kosher salt
Cook on high flame in pressure cooker for 15 minutes
Remove from flame and let rest
Whisk together mustard, salt and vinegar
Slowly add oil until dressing is emulsified
Add pepper
Arrange leaves on plate
Pour dressing over leaves and leave bowl in center of plate for the discarded pieces
Enjoy! !בתיאבון
Cored artichokes. Chopped inner leaves for risotto (recipe coming soon)
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