You might be seeing a ‘stuffed’ theme arising. Yes, we tend to try to stuff everything – from vegetables, to meat, and ourselves. Stuffed artichokes are wonderfully tasty and very easy to prepare and cook. I love them drizzled with olive oil, served with boiled potatoes, canned tuna, and of course tomato paste (one of our many staples).
Every Tuesday afternoon I pass a lone artichoke plant on my way to take Theodora to Little Kickers (football). I am not sure why it has been planted on the side of a road among Victorian terraced houses but I am glad that it has. It reminds me of the artichoke plants we had outside our glasshouse at home. We used to devour these (once cooked) at home often! When I went past the lone artichoke this week the flower had bloomed and was no longer edible. Thankfully I was able to buy two locally and put them in my pot.
We have always filled our artichokes with a parsley filling. Many traditional recipes I have come across use bread crumbs or stale bread also but I prefer them much more this way. I have also included some sun dried tomatoes in this recipe but that is just my preference. Like most things in life it is a choice.
- Two large artichokes with stem trimmed to 2 cm from the base
- 10 Olives (use black kalamata or Maltese olives if you can get them) pitted and chopped
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves sliced
- Hand full of capers
- 2 anchovies chopped
- Parsley bunch chopped
- Sundried tomatoes 4 chopped (optional)
- Salt and pepper
- 4 potatoes quartered
- 3 tablespoons vinegar
- Tomato paste, canned tuna (optional) and olive oil to serve
- Cut the top of the artichokes to remove the top part of most of top leaves.
- Bang each artichoke against a table to loosen the florets.
- Mix together all ingredients (except the potatoes - leave them aside) to create the parsley mixture.
- Place the parsley mixture into the artichoke trying to fill it as much as possible.
- In a large pot place the potatoes and artichokes with the stem at the bottom.
- Fill the pot with water to almost the top of the artichoke.
- Bring to boil and then simmer slowly for 1 hr.
- Serve the artichokes with the potatoes, tomato paste, canned tuna (optional) and olive oil.