I was caught up in the warm fuzzy feelings of spring while in the produce aisle of Wegman’s the other day. The produce there is gorgeous and they have a marvelous organic section too. Out of the corner of my eye I saw some beautiful bright green baby artichokes. In a moment of pure impulse I bought them. Once I got home, I thought what did I do. I’ve never cooked an artichoke that wasn’t out of a can before in my life. Easter Sunday was the first time I had eaten whole steamed artichokes since I was a kid and my boyfriend’s mom showed me how to cook them that day. But baby artichokes… I was clueless.
If you’ve never cooked an artichoke a few tips I’ve learned:
1. Remove the tough outer leaves and trim down the stem
2. Cut the tip top off, if you don’t you’re likely to get a prickly in your mouth
3. Once you’ve trimmed the artichhokes place them in some water with lemon juice to prevent them from turning brown
4. Then cook them as your recipe calls for it
So… back to my story. I wanted to us ethe artichokes before they went bad and also wanted to cook something extra nice for my BF since he was going to be out of town the next few days. I started perusing my latest issue of cooking light for ideas. There was an article on dishes using spring vegetables. And low & behold, there was a recipe for chicken thighs with artichokes and lemon on p.106 of the May 2009 issue. I admit the recipe was slightly deceiving in its title…Yes it does have artichokes & lemons but also has a number of other ingredients that give it a completely different flavor. I even got to use some of the fresh flat leaf parsley I had just started growing in my garden. In true bacchante spirit, I couldn’t follow the recipe exactly and had to go with my gut and what was exciting. So, I substituted the paprika for smoky paprika and skipped the kalamatta olive (cause the BF doesn’t really love them). I served it up with a side of garlic & lemon infused couscous and it was pretty good. The dish goes great with a dry white wine and if you use the smoky paprika a light red like a pinot noir or a nice Beaujolais villages/nouveau (spring is a great time to find some wonderful ones) pairs wonderfully. The picture below is the result. My boyfriend enjoyed his with a heffeweizen beer. I will now be a lot more daring in cooking vegetables I am unfamiliar with. Not only is it fun learning something new, but the results are most often very tasty!
If you’ve never cooked an artichoke a few tips I’ve learned:
1. Remove the tough outer leaves and trim down the stem
2. Cut the tip top off, if you don’t you’re likely to get a prickly in your mouth
3. Once you’ve trimmed the artichhokes place them in some water with lemon juice to prevent them from turning brown
4. Then cook them as your recipe calls for it
So… back to my story. I wanted to us ethe artichokes before they went bad and also wanted to cook something extra nice for my BF since he was going to be out of town the next few days. I started perusing my latest issue of cooking light for ideas. There was an article on dishes using spring vegetables. And low & behold, there was a recipe for chicken thighs with artichokes and lemon on p.106 of the May 2009 issue. I admit the recipe was slightly deceiving in its title…Yes it does have artichokes & lemons but also has a number of other ingredients that give it a completely different flavor. I even got to use some of the fresh flat leaf parsley I had just started growing in my garden. In true bacchante spirit, I couldn’t follow the recipe exactly and had to go with my gut and what was exciting. So, I substituted the paprika for smoky paprika and skipped the kalamatta olive (cause the BF doesn’t really love them). I served it up with a side of garlic & lemon infused couscous and it was pretty good. The dish goes great with a dry white wine and if you use the smoky paprika a light red like a pinot noir or a nice Beaujolais villages/nouveau (spring is a great time to find some wonderful ones) pairs wonderfully. The picture below is the result. My boyfriend enjoyed his with a heffeweizen beer. I will now be a lot more daring in cooking vegetables I am unfamiliar with. Not only is it fun learning something new, but the results are most often very tasty!
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