Recipe: How to make the most of these bonus babies
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| "Baby" artichokes are just petite full-grown artichokes. They can be used in all kinds of recipes. (Photos: Debbie Arrington) |
It’s been a great spring for artichokes. In Sacramento gardens, these oversized thistles have been especially productive, pumping out gobs of globes.
But what do you do with all those “baby” artichokes? Preparing these bonus babies takes work, but they’re all heart.
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| All those baby artichokes are actually fully developed and mostly heart. |
These small side buds aren’t actually “baby” artichokes; they’re fully developed, just petite. The good news: Most of them contain little if any choke – those prickly hairs that cover the meaty heart.
An abundance of small artichokes drove me to look for ways to prepare and save them for later. (Italian cooks have been doing this for centuries.) Here are some short cuts:
When cut, artichokes turn black quickly. To keep them green, set up a large bowl of water. Cut a lemon in half. Add the juice of one half lemon to the water. Keep the other lemon half handy for treating the artichokes while trimming.
With every slice, rub the cut surface with the lemon. When finished trimming, drop the artichoke into the lemon water. Keep it there until ready to steam.
With a sharp knife, cut off the stem close to the base. Treat the cut with lemon. Tear off the tough outer leaves, one by one. They’ll snap at the base, keeping the meat attached to the heart.
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| The outer petals have been removed from this artichoke. |
Once the outer leaves are removed, cut the remaining leaves close to the heart. Again, treat the cut with lemon.
Cut the heart in half (if large, in fourths), treating each cut side with a rub of lemon. With a spoon, scoop out any choke. Put cut hearts in lemon water until ready to process.
When working with the individual artichokes, be careful of thorns. Heirloom artichoke varieties in particular have long needles on the end of each petal. Use scissors or a sharp knife to cut off the petal ends first before attempting to pull them off. Your hands will thank you.
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| Prepared artichoke hearts go into the steamer. |
Once the artichoke hearts are cut up, remove them from the lemon water and steam them for 8 to 10 minutes, or until tender when poked with a sharp knife.
The hearts are now ready for any recipe that calls for artichoke hearts. (They can be frozen for later use, too.) Marinate them for salads. Add to chicken breasts or toss with pasta.
My favorite: Fried artichoke hearts. This Italian recipe, from Mark Bittman’s excellent globe-trotting collection, is a lot healthier than those deep-fried State Fair nuggets, but just as satisfying.
Fried artichoke hearts
Adapted from “The Best Recipes in the World” by Mark Bittman (Broadway Books)
Makes 4 servings
Ingredients:
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| Fried artichoke hearts make a great appetizer. |
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Garden Checklist for week of Nov. 3
November still offers good weather for fall planting:
* If you haven't already, it's time to clean up the remains of summer. Pull faded annuals and vegetables. Prune dead or broken branches from trees.
* Now is the best time to plant most trees and shrubs. This gives them plenty of time for root development before spring growth. They also benefit from fall and winter rains.
* Set out cool-weather annuals such as pansies and snapdragons.
* Lettuce, cabbage and broccoli also can be planted now.
* Plant garlic and onions.
* Keep planting bulbs to spread out your spring bloom. Some possible suggestions: daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths, tulips, anemones and scillas.
* This is also a good time to seed wildflowers and plant such spring bloomers as sweet pea, sweet alyssum and bachelor buttons.
* Rake and compost leaves, but dispose of any diseased plant material. For example, if peach and nectarine trees showed signs of leaf curl this year, clean up under trees and dispose of those leaves instead of composting.
* Save dry stalks and seedpods from poppies and coneflowers for fall bouquets and holiday decorating.
* For holiday blooms indoors, plant paperwhite narcissus bulbs now. Fill a shallow bowl or dish with 2 inches of rocks or pebbles. Place bulbs in the dish with the root end nestled in the rocks. Add water until it just touches the bottom of the bulbs. Place the dish in a sunny window. Add water as needed.
* Give your azaleas, gardenias and camellias a boost with chelated iron.
* For larger blooms, pinch off some camellia buds.
* Prune non-flowering trees and shrubs while dormant.
* To help prevent leaf curl, apply a copper fungicide spray to peach and nectarine trees after they lose their leaves this month. Leaf curl, which shows up in the spring, is caused by a fungus that winters as spores on the limbs and around the tree in fallen leaves. Sprays are most effective now.
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