I headed off happily to Belconnen Markets this morning armed with The Food of Spain & Portugal by Elisabeth Luard. I wanted to sit down with a coffee, have a read, and decide what I wanted to cook. I had already decided to do my own version of fideua (that is now tomorrow) but I was sidetracked by a rather lovely looking stuffed artichoke dish in the book, 'alcachofas rellenas', artichokes stuffed with spinach.
I love artichokes but I do admit I find the whole business of preparing them a real pfaff! Watching Yotam Ottolenghi's Mediterranean Feast on SBS a few weeks ago I turned as green as a pea as he bought ready prepared fresh artichokes in the market! I think anyone who can prepare the raw artichokes as quickly as this local vendor in the Middle Eastern market did should be fast tracked through to the top of the list for immigration to Australia. All other countries can have the brain surgeons.
I know, I know, I know, that it can be very satisfying to struggle through adversity and come out on top and suck on a lovely artichoke doused in buttery juices BUT, and it is a big BUT, what if you spend ages preparing these lovely vegetables only to be disappointed in a recipe? This, I am saddened to say, happened to me today.
What appealed to me was the stuffing of wilted spinach, serrano ham (which I dutifully bought knowing full well I could have substituted something less likely to send me to the poor house), raisins, pinenuts and my favourite, anchovies. What could go wrong? I know what went wrong. I expected stunning, punchy flavours. I didn't get it. The surgically coiffed and stuffed artichokes are slowly stewed on a bed of finely chopped carrot, celery, onion and garlic with thyme, mint and wait for it, the culprit, a bay leaf.
When I tasted them I knew something was wrong. It was the bay leaf. Well, I think it was the main offender. It tasted dirty, but what was missing was some kind of zing, maybe lemon? I started to doubt myself. Is it my fault? What have I done wrong? I added salt as I ate the cooked artichoke and it was better. Then an epiphany - I have had a few lately. Am I expecting too much of artichokes and things that we put up on a pedestal? Artichokes should be able to be 'just another vegetable'. Would I be spruiking all this about a zucchini/courgette? No!!
In the seventies when zucchinis were still a wee bit, well, different, we put them up on that great big podium of revolutionary food discoveries. I remember my Mum making a beef and soy sauce dish with courgettes. I will call them courgettes as that is what I think we called them then. Mum called them something different but that was her being grubby. I remember it as being sensational. I don't think I would think that today.
That has happened to artichokes. They should be allowed just to be artichokes or maybe just be a vehicle for a stuffing. I was seduced by the photograph in Luard's book, the photo actually being just food styling and not at all representative of the actual recipe. The difference between Australia and Europe and the Middle East is that they have unlimited, cheap access to artichokes. They can be used as a standard, even cheap vegetable. Had I not put my artichokes on a pedestal today, and just seen them as another ingredient, perhaps I wouldn't be so disappointed and then I could just be disappointed with this particular Luard recipe.
I won't post the recipe although am happy to pass it on if anyone is interested. I used leftover stuffing to stuff some small red capsicums and some flat mushrooms. The mushrooms produced the best result. I will post the photos. The pretty one is up the top. The artichoke stems were delicious (just as broccoli stems are more delicious than the sort after flowers). A squeeze of lemon and some sea salt helped.
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