Right now in my garden I have these tiny artichokes that are just right for eating. Here, I've cut them in half, removed the outer leaves and boiled them in acidulated water for ten minutes.
Then, I'll drain them and preserve in two different ways:
1. Freeze
2. Pack in olive oil.
If you pick them young, you will have less waste and the choke, the middle part that is spiny and not edible is not a problem at all in tiny chokes. If it is, pull out after the chokes are cooled.
Here is how I like to serve them:
Fried artichokes:
Defrost the chokes or pull them out of the pack.
Pull each leaf off.
Dip in your favorite (beer for me) batter and then fry in olive oil until golden.
Serve as appetizer or a side dish with lemony mayo.
Rosaria don't worry about my artichokes I cut them immediately after taking the photos. They would not have been tough when I returned from the UK as they would not have been there!!! My neighbour knows he can have anything from my garden that is edible while I am gone!! I simply steam mine and then peel the leaves, dip them into a sauce and eat the base. I leave the centres to last so I can enjoy the flavour to the full. They never manage to get as far as the freezer :-) Have a good day. Diane
ReplyDeleteI love artichokes and am hoping to grow some. Thanks for the tip on an early harvest and also fried artichokes. I've never tried that before. It sounds great!
ReplyDeleteFried artichokes sound so delicious! And the lemony mayo, too. I'll have to give them a try, soon. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteOHMYGOSH - one of my favorite ways to eat artichokes! Love the babies. Makes me SO hungry for them but since we are currently traveling on the east coast that's just not likely to happen. I saw some labeled fresh jumbo the other day and thought "that's just not so!"
ReplyDeleteAm so looking forward to running over to Castroville to buy them directly from the field.
Lovely reminder - good luck with growing them!