I grew up with Maltese style stuffed whole artichokes. These have a very savoury filling of breadcrumbs, parsley, garlic, anchovy and olives, sometimes capers too, which is pushed down between the leaves and into the heart. To eat them each leaf is pulled, the filling eaten, the centre of leaf scraped off and the remains of the leaf piled tidily or untidily to one side of the plate.
I was delighted to discover the Italian way of preparing artichokes, where all the stuff discarded at the side of the plate is removed in advance, so that every delicious mouthful on your plate is one hundred per cent edible.
This does mean more preparation, more work for the cook, but it is so well worth it that I do it every time with one exception. Children seem to enjoy the ritual of scraping leaf by leaf so for kids I leave the artichokes whole.
There are oodles of artichoke recipes in Italy's regional cuisines and many traditional artichoke fillings, literally dozens of ways of cooking the many varieties available through the long artichoke season that runs from October to early May. In Abruzzo and Molise they have a tuna, caper, anchovy and parsley filling. In Calabria they fill with ground meat, pecorino, parsley and breadcrumbs. I have come across but never tasted a Naples recipe for a filling of chopped left over cooked beef and dried mushrooms stewed with tomatoes; when the sauce is thick and much reduced, it is mixed with grated cheese and parsley and used to stuff the "carciofi". Liguria too makes use of dried mushrooms, mixing them with the chopped artichoke stems, parsley, garlic, breadcrumbs, grated cheese, oregano and nutmeg.
The Sicilian stuffing is a cucina povera filling similar to the Maltese one though cheese and sometimes pine nuts and raisins are also added. I have come across at least one other Sicilian stuffing based on pork sausage meat, ricotta and grated cheese. The artichokes are filled with with grated cheese, breadcrumbs, parsley and garlic in Apulia, before they are baked on a bed of wilted chicory greens, while the sophisticated urban Torino classes enjoyed a rich filling made of minced veal, chicken, Prosciutto and if available a white truffle, and each filled artichoke heart was further topped with a slice of pork loin before being braised in white wine. Even Lombardy has a traditional stuffed artichoke recipe where the filling is a thick nutmeg scented bechamel, enriched with diced Fontina cheese.
My artichokes were a spur of the moment decision made with what I had available: beef, lightly smoked pancetta, Parmigiano-Reggiano, ricotta and dry bread for breadcrumbs. They turned out beautifully and made an elegant antipasto. With bigger artichokes they could make a light lunch or supper. I love the different textures of the layers of this dish: the velvety cannellini, the meltingly tender artichoke hearts under the meat filling which had a little more bite, and the crisp dry cheesy topping: great flavour and texture combinations.
For detailed instructions on how to prepare the artichoke please refer back to my Hearts Upon Hearts post.
For my two small artichoke hearts but into four halves I used:
about 120 g ( 4 ounces) very lean beef in one slice
a fairly thin slice of lightly smoked pancetta - smoked bacon is an acceptable substitute
a large tablespoon of ricotta to soften the ground beef mixture
a small slice of day old bread with crusts removed, dampened with milk then squeezed out
about 2/3 tablespoons grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
salt, pepper, EVO oil
For the bean puree I used
a small jar of pre-cooked cannellini beans
EVO oil
a sprig of rosemary
a clove of garlic
a small handful of well rinsed capers preserved in salt
- I started by bringing a small pot of water to the boil for poaching the artichoke halves. When it came to the boil I added coarse sea salt and then the artichokes which I cooked uncovered.
- Meanwhile I knife chopped the beef to a very fine grind.
- The smoked pancetta I first knife chopped and then pounded with pestle and mortar.
- I mixed the meats then added the ricotta and the squeezed out bread, and kneaded everything together. Then I added enough cheese for the mixture to hold without needing any egg.
- I seasoned only lightly with salt - the cheese is salty enough -and with black pepper, and kneaded again to be sure everything was very well mixed.
- When the artichokes were soft - I tested by piercing with a wooden skewer - I drained them and then filled the cavities with the meat filling, heaping it up in a kind of a little dome, then I grated some cheese very finely and pressed it on top.
- I placed the filled artichoke halves in a small pan with water and olive oil on the base and set them on low heat to braise, covered, for about 15 minutes. I wanted the meat filling to cook through and to keep the artichokes moist and tender. I used just a little EVO oil and enough water to almost come up to the top without touching the filling.
- While they were cooking I made the bean puree by passing the cannellini beans through a food mill to get a very fine texture - patient work this, but a creamier result than blitzing with a stick blender.
- I placed the resulting bean paste in a small pan with enough water and just a little olive oil to make a creamy consistency, adding in the peeled whole garlic clove and a small rosemary sprig to flavour the beans. I left this on lowest heat for the flavours to blend and added water as it reduced and became to thick.
- I turned the grill on to very high and when the artichokes were ready I placed them in a small container, grated some extra cheese less finely and sprinkled it over, then drizzled with olive oil.
- The last step was grilling them for 5 minutes or so until the top turned crisp and golden.
- I plated them on a pool of the cannellini puree, drizzling with olive oil and garnishing with rosemary, adding capers for a little salt tang that gave the creamy beans a little zesty edge .
Buon Appetito!
