A dish of Sicilian origin but one, in our family, which is prepared without anchovies as nonna did. Known as a recipe to ‘capture men’ as Rita will tell you – the fastest way to a man’s heart is through his stomach after all…
Ingredients (for 4 people):
- 4 fresh large artichokes – squeaky fresh
- 1-1/2 cups coarse breadcrumbs
- salt & pepper
- extra virgin olive oil, as needed
- handful of parsley
- 2 large cloves of garlic, peeled
Method:
Prepare the artichokes by clearing away the outermost leaves if damaged and cutting the base so that they will stand upright.
In a food processor, blend parsley, garlic, salt, pepper and breadcrumbs until well mixed and add 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Open up each artichoke a bit and press the breadcrumb mixture, pushing in fairly evenly to make a compact ‘lid’ of breadcrumb, sprinkle the artichoke with salt.
Pour a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a thick-bottomed pan with sides as tall as the artichokes and large enough to just fit the artichokes in, fairly snugly. Place the artichokes in the pan once the oil is hot and sear the bases. Once brown, add in water so it’s about an inch up their sides, cover and let simmer for about an hour or until cooked (test with a metal skewer for tenderness).
Uncover to let finish cooking at higher temperature, this glazes the bottoms and dries out the breadcrumb stuffing so it’s nice and crumbly.
Enjoy these with fresh bread – pull off a leaf, suck the base and take a bite of bread. Once you get to the ‘heart’ of the artichoke, scrape off the hairy bit and enjoy. I would take these artichokes to elementary school for lunch when everyone else was eating PB&J, I was having artichokes and loving it!
Buon appetito!
Fatto per Casa 