Stupid question of the year....

S

sallybr

Well-known member
ok, here it goes, and I am already ashamed to ask.... but I need to be enlightened

Today on The Kitchen, GZ made a dish with artichokes that seemed pretty tasty, but I've never made artichokes this way.

He used fresh artichokes, sliced in half lengthwise, choke removed - it was basically a braise in white wine, capers, olives - 45 min on top of the stove, then ricotta cheese was added on top of each half of artichoke and the dish was baked 45 minutes longer

my stupid question is - do you eat the whole artichoke when made this way? Because we are not talking just artichoke hearts, these had layers of leaves still on them. Normally, when I steam artichokes, I just suck the meaty portion from the leaves and toss the rest.

I tried to pay attention to them tasting the dish and it seemed to me they were eating the whole thing....

am I missing something as far as eating this delicacy goes????

 
I think that it is as a regular artichoke: eat the stuff that is tender enough to eat. . .

You should be able to eat the tender stuff off of any leaves, the tender leaves (you cut all the spines off, no?) and the heart (where the "choke" was removed) and you can pull the tough stuff off of the stem and eat the inside of that also.

 
I watched this too, it was like a casserole dish, cut with a knife and fork and then

was eaten off the fork. They took all the outer leaves off and my guess it that they also cut the top of the choke off, and also cut the tips of the leaves off...but we were not shown that part. I remove the tips from all the leaves before cooking my chokes in simmering water. Even then, I scrap off the tender, meaty part of the bottom of the leaves with my teeth. The braise must break down the fibrous part of the leaves.

 
Thank you, that clarified the issue for me (more)

I think I would rather make a similar dish with artichoke hearts only, and cook for a shorter time

the idea of picking the edible from the tough on the plate is a bit of a turn off for me - with the whole steamed artichokes it's a different thing, you eat with your hands and do that as part of the experience, but served on a plate with all the sauce and melted cheese, I rather use tender artichoke hearts...

 
I had the same question when I watched it and am still puzzled. they did not remove lots of leaves

and the whole thing cooked a long time, but I don't think long enough to soften all the leaves to eat them all. they can be so fibrous, at least the ends and you are right, eating them by the leaf served in this casserole way is just not appetizing.

 
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