I am a HUGE artichoke lover. They’re absolutely delicious and oh so filling. If you’ve never had them, you’re missing out! I highly recommend trying my dad’s stuffed artichoke recipe! Here’s how they’re done:
Ingredients:
- artichokes (1 per person)
- Italian bread crumbs
- minced garlic
- olive oil
- Romano or Parmesan cheese
Additional equipment:
- sharp scissors
- sharp knife
Directions:
1. Using a sharp kitchen knife, cut the tops off of the artichokes. Essentially, you’re cutting about 1/2 an inch. This not only allows you to be able to stuff the inside, but helps remove a lot of the spikes on the leaves.
2. With the scissors, clip off the rest of the sharp spikes on the leaves. This can be tedious but no one wants to be stabbed by them. The hurt!
3. Using the shark knife, cut the stalk off of the bottom. You want these to be able to stand inside of a pan so try to keep the cut nice and straight.
4. Grab a large pot and fill it half way with water. Put the artichokes in and boil on medium high. All them to boil for about 20-30 minutes. You’ll know they’re done boiling, when they’ve drastically softened and turned a dark green color.
5. CAREFULLY remove them from the pot and put them upside down. This allows the excess water to drain.
6. Pre-heat the oven to 400.
7. While the over in pre-heating, combine the remaining ingredients (excluding the olive oil) in a dry bowl. This is where you use go as heavy as you want or as light as you want, depending on how potent you want it to be. You’ll want to go heavy on the breadcrumbs as that’s the foundation for the mixture. Then add a little garlic and a handful or Romano cheese.
8. Pour a small amount of olive oil into the bowl. You want everything to dampen and stick, not float. You can always add a little more, but you can’t remove it if you overdo it.
9. Once the breadcrumbs are damp, grab an artichoke and carefully open it up. You just want to loosen the leaves not tear it apart (so be gentle).
10. On the very inside over the artichoke, is the artichoke heart (don’t worry, it’s not a heart in the sense that you think). The heart is covered in fine “hairs”. Those are NOT edible. Use a spoon to scrape them out. Once removed, the heart will be easily seen. It looks like an edible bowl – smooth surface.
11. Start stuffing the open (and cleaned) artichokes with the breadcrumb mixture you’re made. It’s ok to really pack it in there. You can always make another batch of the mixture.
12. Once they’re all stuffed, stand them up in a baking dish, add a tony bit of water to the bottom and pop them in the oven.
13. Good for 15 minutes. The breadcrumbs should start to brown.
14. Enjoy!
Yes, it is a tedious process but it’s a delicious one!
