03 September 2017

Artichauts

SuperU had big beautiful fresh artichokes on sale for one euro apiece the other day. I bought two and prepared them by trimming off the sharp leaf-tips with kitchen scissors and the tops with a big sharp knife. Here's a post about the process that I wrote 10 years ago.


I cooked these artichokes in a steamer pot. They were so big that I had to cook them one at a time. I like to eat artichokes cold with mayonnaise as a dip, but they're also good with vinaigrette or other sauces like lemon butter or just melted butter. I'm not sure how many people outside France or California — where a lot of artichokes are grown — prepare and eat them this way.

15 comments:

  1. I love artichauts, much less the side effects. I usually eat them with vinaigrette.

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    1. I remember Jeanine cooking artichokes in Carteret once when I was there. We ate them with vinaigrette.

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  2. Those are big. Don't they have that 'fuzz' inside? How do you get around that when eating them? We just use the hearts

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    1. When you've pulled off all the meaty leaves that have something on them to eat, then you discard the rest of the leaves. You scrape the "choke" (le foin or "hay" in French) using a spoon or a knife. Then you eat the artichoke bottom with your fingers or with a knife and fork. See Simply Recipes for a complete rundown on preparing and eating artichokes.

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  3. Le Super U de Saint-Aignan est après celui de Plascassier le plus beau Super U de France Bon dimanche .

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    1. Je ne connais pas celui de Plascassier, mais je préfère de loin le SuperU de Saint-Aignan comparé à ceux de Montrichard, Selles, Romo, ou même Contres. Bon dimanche...

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  4. Replies
    1. Me too. Memories of France in the 1970s and California in the 1990s.

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  5. Another fan here...a la vinaigrette. I always associate artichokes with springtime when they seemed to arrive in the stores in California by the truckload. I have memories of driving through the Castro Valley where those lovely silver-leaved plants stretched on forever.

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  6. That is exactly how I prepare and cook them. I like them with melted butter. Those look great.

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  7. I love the meaty leave parts with butter. They are better to me than the hearts.

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  8. Omg those look beautiful! And so inexpensive.

    I'll have mine cold with mayo please. ;-)

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  9. I love artichokes. I learned to love them when we spent our holidays in Bretagne (Carantec, St Pol de Leon, Roscoff,...). I am surprised nobody mentions the "oeufs mimosa", I think this is a very olf French recipe...

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    1. I don't see the conection between artichokes and œufs mimosa.If it is the mayonnaise, it is really thin.

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  10. Oops, "old" of course... :-)

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