Tossed in rice or pasta, mixed in a green salad or a warm potato salad, confit baby artichokes make a great addition to almost any dish. Puree them to make a creamy spread for sandwiches or crostinis, use them as an accompaniment for meats and cheeses, stuff them into bell peppers and roast them, use the flavored oil for dressings… YUM! For the Silverlake Wine tasting, Matt crushed the confit artichokes and layered them in lasagne. These little guys are a bit time consuming to clean, but once you turn them into a confit (slow cooked in oil), they will hold covered in your refrigerator for up to 3 weeks ready to impress any hungry guest. Put them in jars and give them as gifts. Please save some for us. We love ’em!
25 Fresh Baby Green or Violet Artichokes
1 lemon
1 White Onion
6 cloves of Garlic
1 bunch of Italian Parsley chopped fine
16 oz Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Tablespoons Salt
2 Teaspoons Pepper
To clean the Artichokes:
Prepare a large bowl of cold water to reserve cleaned artichokes and squeeze the lemon into water. Using your hands, remove the outer leaves of the artichoke until the bottom half of it’s flower is yellow and the tips are still green or violet. Cut those tips off. Now for the stem: use a peeler to strip it’s woody exterior until it is yellow and there is no more green or brown.
Put cleaned artichokes into the lemon water until cooking time to prevent them from turning brown.
Confit:
Finely mince the onion and garlic and mix with the parsley. In a large, cold sauce pot, place the extra virgin olive oil, garlic, parsley, and onion. Strain the artichokes from the water and toss in a mixing bowl with salt and pepper. Arrange the artichokes stem up, in the sauce pot with the oil so they are all standing. Cover tightly with aluminum foil or tightly fitting lid and set atop stove.
On high heat, bring artichokes to a boil, then lower to a simmer. Cook for 15 minutes covered. Remove from heat. Artichokes should be soft when a knife is inserted, if not return to heat. Allow to cool to room temperature, then store, covered in refrigerator.
