I love artichokes. In and around Rome there are many ways of cooking artichokes, like in a frittata di carciofi, fried in batter, raw in salads with olive oil and lemon juice, alla giudìa (the Jewish way, ie deep fried without batter), thinly sliced and cooked in a pan…. Unfortunately for a lot of these recipes you need to have  the type of artichoke that is difficult to find in Switzerland. Sometimes I am able to find artichokes here, but they are a little more … hard than the ones I used in Rome.
No worries, I get to eat them the same!
PSÂ I’d like to thank my daughter for the nice pictures!
Carciofi alla romana
Artichokes are a favourite of mine. In Rome they are cooked in many different ways, this is maybe the simplest one and I love it. The use of boiling water will soften the hard artichokes that I can find here, if you find softer ones to begin with, when you taste them after 10 minutes cooking they might already be done...
Servings: 4 people
Ingredients
- 12 artichokes
- 3 tbsp olive oil extra virgin
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/2 lemon
- 2-3 cups boiling water
- 1 pinch salt
Instructions
- Prepare the artichokes for cleaning. Here in Switzerland - when I can find them - I find them half cleaned at the supermarket.
- Clean the artichokes by cutting away all the hard leaves and liberating the soft core and put them in a bowl with water. Add the juice of half a lemon, and the juiced lemon. Peel the garlic cloves.
- Put the olive oil in a pan large enough to put all the artichokes in, add the peeled garlic cloves cut in halves and let the oil fry the garlic.
- Add the artichokes to the pan with the leaves down, let fry for a couple of minutes then add 2 cups of boiling water and a pinch of salt, cover and let simmer for 10 minutes.
- Take out one leaf from an artichoke and taste it, add salt if needed. If it is still hard, add another cup of boiling water and let it simmer for 5 minutesReady! Enjoy!
I’ve never seen or had fresh artichokes – only pickled in oil in a jar. They are so pretty!
Thanks a lot! In Italy, especially in the center and south regions, they are a favourite… Unfortunately where I live I don’t get the types I like most, but when I travel back to Italy and it is season, I indulge..