<Artichoke 2>

The artichoke is an enigma. How did anyone ever think to peel away all of those spiny, tough exterior layers to find a small, tender and (finally!) edible heart within? I imagine it was a spring day in dusty, ancient Rome when a curious, hungry farmer stumbled over a wild thistle that hadn’t yet blossomed and started unfolding its leaves. After much sampling of leaf after bitter leaf, his perseverance paid off with a yellow-green core that tasted somehow earthy, grassy and tin-like all at once. From that day on, like a holy trinity, the Roman Spring Artichoke became the emblem of the eternal city.

But an emblem does not an easy vegetable make. Unlike sweet, petite spring peas that seem to have a generous spirit (I imagine them dancing in white linen dresses singing: “Sauté me. Blanch me. Pop me in your mouth.”), thorny, bitter artichokes are demanding. They require trimming, peeling, rubbing with lemon, cooking or dressing to make them delicious. But at the end of the day, they’re worth it. Whether dragging an aioli-dipped steamed leaf across my teeth or chomping on shaved raw baby artichokes dressed simply with lemon, olive oil, Parmigiano Reggiano, salt and pepper, the artichoke is a welcome, albeit crotchety, friend come April and May.

I have found that preserving lots of artichokes all at once is a great way to get the most bang for your buck. There are a number of ways to go about it. In Italy, you often find delicious carciofi sott’olio on an antipasti plate. These artichokes are first gently pickled with vinegar and then immersed in oil. I prefer to use a confit-style recipe that produces a more versatile, less acidic, flavor and yields an ideal addition to your pantry.

Confit is typically a French technique (from the verb confire to preserve) for preserving by cooking meat in a fat. In my recipe for artichoke confit, you trim and slow-cook baby artichokes under olive oil until they’re tender. Submerged in olive oil, the artichokes last for months.

Don’t be scared off by the amount of oil the recipe requires. The oil becomes infused with artichokes, lemon and thyme and can be used in vinaigrette over salads, as a liquid to poach shrimp in or drizzled over roasted vegetables or grilled fish. Tender, baby artichokes (similar to the classically Roman kind) are the best ones to use for this recipe but large, globe ones trimmed down to their softer, interior yellow leaves work as well.

Baby Artichoke Confit

2 lemons

2 cups extra virgin olive oil

1 cup onion, diced 1/2 inch

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

Kosher salt

2 pounds baby artichokes, trimmed and cut in half (about 24)*

Zest of 1 lemon

1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

1/2 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes

Scrub 2 lemons, then cut them in half. Combine the juice of 1 1/2 of the lemons with 2 quarts cold water in a large bowl. Add the squeezed rinds to the water. Save the remaining lemon half to use during trimming.*

One at a time, trim 1/2 inch off the crown of each artichoke and snap off any tough or scarred outer leaves, until only pale green leaves remain. Trim away the tip of the stem and peel the stem itself. As you finish each artichoke, rub the cut spots with the lemon half to prevent the flesh from turning brown and cover with acidulated water until ready to use. The choke of a baby artichoke is edible after cooking, so you don’t need to remove it.

Heat the 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil and the onions in a large non-reactive pan over medium heat. Cook 8 minutes or until the onions are tender. Add the garlic and cook until it releases its perfume, another minute or so. Season with salt.

Add the trimmed artichokes with the remaining ingredients to the pan. Season with salt. Add enough olive oil to just cover the artichokes. (Don’t fret about the large quantity of olive oil you will be using. The oil will become infused with artichokes and is wonderful for making a vinaigrette.) Cover with a lid and simmer until the artichokes are tender when pierced with a knife. Check after 15 minutes. Larger artichokes may take 30 to 40 minutes.

Allow the artichokes to cool in the oil.

Refrigerate when cool.

*A note on trimming artichokes

Trimming artichokes involves several simple but necessary steps that appear to discard a major portion of the vegetable. Don’t worry. You’re not removing anything edible. The point of trimming an artichoke is to make it easy to reach the edible parts. Baby artichokes, about 1 1/4 ounces each, require less trimming than larger ones, which range from 8 ounces to well over a pound. Bigger is not necessarily better. Baby artichokes haven’t had time to outgrow their young tenderness, and more of the vegetable is edible. The “choke,” the thistle-like center of the artichoke, is edible in a cooked baby artichoke; in an adult, it must be removed as part of the trimming process.

Artichokes will discolor easily during trimming, from contact with a carbon-steel knife or from prolonged exposure to air. You can remedy this by using a knife with a stainless steel blade and rubbing the cut spots with a lemon half. Cut-and-rub is a habit worth cultivating. If you’re not going to use the trimmed artichokes immediately, keep them covered with acidulated water (water containing lemon juice) until you need them. Two lemons will suffice for trimming 2 pounds of artichokes (3 to 4 medium-sized ones or 24 babies). They’ll yield enough juice for 2 quarts of acidulated water, with enough lemon left over for rubbing the cut surfaces as you trim.