Lidia Bastianich Knows Artichokes

Spring artichokes coincide with the first fresh mint of the season, and the arrival of the two are cause for excitement, particularly in and around Rome.

Lidia Bastianich just returned from Italy, brimming with great ideas about the versatile veggie.

Bastianich, author of "Lidia's Italy" and host of the PBS cooking show by the same name, visited The Early Show Friday with recipes for using artichoke in three different ways: in a salad, stuffed, and marinated.

She also had buying and prepping pointers.

BUYING

Artichokes should be firm, with a healthy green color- brownish streaks in the leaves indicate age. Hold an artichoke in your palm and make sure it is compact, not soft and loose. Two artichokes should squeak a little when rubbed together. Artichokes- for that matter any vegetable that have a stem-eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, carrots-should have the stems left on when shipped to market. The stem acts as a reserve food supply for the vegetable while it is on display to be sold at market. Look for and ask for vegetables with stems.

CLEANING AND TRIMMING

Stir lemon juice into a bowl with a quart of cold water. The acidulated water will keep the artichoke slices from discoloring after you cut them.

Work with one artichoke at a time: Trim off the thick outside leaves, until you reach the tender, pale inside leaves. Cut off the tough bottom of the stem but leave most of it (an inch or so) attached to globe. With a vegetable peeler or paring knife, peel off the outer skin of the short stem, exposing the fresh layer underneath.

Next, cut straight across the pointed top of the artichoke, removing the tips of the leaves. Drop the trimmed artichoke into the acidulated water and trim the rest of them in this way, submerging them all in the bowl.

RECIPES

Celery and Artichoke Salad with Shavings of GRANA PADANO

Celery is often underappreciated as a principal salad ingredient. The inner stalks of the head have a wonderful freshness, flavor, and delicacy when thinly sliced. Here I've paired them with fresh baby artichoke slices in a salad with lots of bright, subtle flavors and all kinds of crunch. Shards of hard cheese - either Parmigiano-Reggiano or Grana Padano lend even more complexity to the mix.

Use only firm and very small artichokes for this: they should feel tight and almost squeak when you squeeze them and they should have no choke.

INGREDIENTS:
For 6 servings
Freshly squeezed juice of 1 lemon
1 quart of water
6 firm small artichokes, no wider than 3-inches wide
8 to 12 tender celery stalks with leaves, from the inner part of the head (about 10 ounces)

For the Dressing
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1-1/2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, or more to taste
3/4 teaspoon salt, or more to taste
A chunk of Parmigiano-Reggiano or Grana Padano, 1/4 pound or more

METHOD:
Trimming the Artichokes and Celery
Stir the lemon juice into a bowl with a quart of cold water. The acidulated water will keep the artichoke slices from discoloring after you cut them.
Work with one artichoke at a time: Trim off the thick outside leaves, until you reach the tender, pale inside leaves. Cut off the tough bottom of the stem but leave most of it (an inch or so) attached to globe. With a vegetable peeler or paring knife, peel off the outer skin of the short stem, exposing the fresh layer underneath.
Next, cut straight across the pointed top of the artichoke, removing the tips of the leaves. Drop the trimmed artichoke into the acidulated water and trim the rest of them in this way, submerging them all in the bowl.

To prepare the celery, trim off the wide end of the celery stalks and pick off the leaves, reserving only the tender pale leaves. Peel the stalks if they're dark, tough or blemished. Slice each one on the diagonal, 1/8-inch thick, into delicate, translucent crescents. Chop the tender leaves and put all the celery - about 2 cups - into a large mixing bowl.

Making and Dressing the Salad
When you're ready to serve the salad, remove a trimmed artichoke from the lemon water and slice, from stem to top, in thin 1/8-inch slices; add the slices to the bowl. Quickly slice all the artichokes this way and toss the celery and artichoke slices together with the lemon juice, the olive oil and the salt.
With a vegetable peeler or sharp knife, shave about 2 dozen delicate large flakes of Parmigiano-Reggiano or Grana Padano from the chunk of cheese: each shaving should be a couple of inches long and an inch or 2 inches wide.
Fold the shavings of cheese gently into the sliced vegetables. Taste and adjust dressing. Arrange the salad on a serving platter or portion on salad plates. Shave more flakes of cheese and scatter a dozen or more over the platter or place 3 or 4 on top of individual servings.

For more recipes, to go Page 2.

Marinated Artichokes

Carciofi Marinati

These herby, lemony artichokes make a lovely dish for a buffet table or as part of an assorted antipasto. I serve it as a main course at Felidia, especially in summer, with dressed steamed shrimps or with mozzarella di bufala.

INGREDIENTS:
Serves 6
2 lemons
24 small artichokes (about 1 1/2 pounds)
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
8 garlic cloves, crushed and peeled
2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley
1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon crushed hot red pepper
Freshly ground black pepper

METHOD:
Remove the peel from the lemons with a vegetable peeler. Squeeze the juice. Clean the artichokes according to the directions for the salad above. Be sure to plunge them into the acidulated water as you work.
Drain the cleaned artichokes thoroughly. Choose a pot large enough to hold the artichokes snugly side by side. Arrange the artichokes cut side down in the pot. Pour the olive oil into the pot. Scatter the garlic, parsley, mint and lemon peel over the artichokes. Pour in the lemon juice, then enough water to cover the artichokes up to, but not over the base of the stems.
Add the salt and black and red pepper and cover the pot loosely with aluminum foil and bring to a boil over high heat. Adjust the heat to simmering and cook until the artichokes hearts are tender and about 1/3 of the liquid is left, about 30 minutes. Let the artichokes cool to room temperature in the cooking liquid. Serve at room temperature with some of the cooking liquid as a sauce.

Stuffed Artichokes

Carciofi Inbottiti
Artichokes are very Italian and very delicious. Spring artichokes coincide with the first fresh mint of the season, and the arrival of the two are cause for excitement, particularly in and around Rome. Artichokes turn brown quickly when you are cleaning them, so be sure to have some water acidulated with lemon juice handy so you can soak them once they are trimmed.

INGREDIENTS:
Serves 6
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4 garlic cloves, crushed and peeled
3 lemons
6 large artichokes
1 cup coarse breadcrumbs
2 hard boiled eggs, chopped fine
4 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
2 anchovy fillets, chopped fine
2 tablespoons grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1 teaspoon crushed hot red pepper, finely chopped
Salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

METHOD:
The flavorings in this dish are zesty- a combination of the traditional and a few touches of my own. The anchovies add a lot of flavor, but if you don't like them, don't use them. Lemon zest lightens the flavor of this hearty dish a little. (You might find that adding just a little bit of zest to other robust dishes will do the same for them.) It may seem strange to chop the crushed red pepper- especially at they fly around the chopping board a bit while you're trying to do so, but it prevents you from biting down on a big flake of pepper in the stuffing. If you have vegetable stock or chicken stock, you may use it in place of the water called for above. It will surely add flavor.

Put the olive oil and garlic in a small bowl and let steep 30 minutes to 2 hours. If you plan to hold the infused garlic oil longer than a few hours, strain out the garlic and reserve the flavored oil.

Preheat oven to 400° F.

Grate 1 teaspoon of zest from one of the lemons and set the zest aside. Squeeze the juice from the lemons and pour about half the juice into a large bowl of cool water. Reserve the remaining lemon juice and two of the lemon halves. Prepare the artichokes for stuffing as described on page 000, plunging them into the acidulated water as you go.

Mix the breadcrumbs, eggs, 2 tablespoons of the parsley, the mint, anchovies, Parmigiano-Reggiano, half the red pepper, the reserved lemon zest and 3 tablespoons of garlic-infused olive oil together in a bowl. Taste and season with salt, if necessary. Mix well.

Remove the artichokes from the water and drain them a few minutes on a kitchen towel, rapping them once or twice to remove as much of the liquid as possible. Gently spread leaves open from the center to make sure as much stuffing as possible ends up between the leaves. Dividing the stuffing evenly among the artichokes and using the palm of one hand, work the stuffing between the artichoke leaves and into the center, where the choke was. You may not need all the stuffing to fill the artichokes. If you have any left over, you may use it as described below to make a thicker sauce. (Or, if you prefer a thicker sauce, be sure to reserve about 3 tablespoons of the stuffing for that purpose.)

Nestle the artichokes into an oval 12-inch ceramic baking dish, or other dish into which they fit comfortably. Tuck the reserved stems in between the artichokes. Pour enough fresh water into the dish to cover the bottom third of the artichokes. Season water with salt, and add the remaining crushed red pepper, the remaining 3 tablespoons infused olive oil, the remaining 2 tablespoons parsley and the remaining lemon juice to the water. Dot the tops of the artichokes with the butter. For a denser sauce, spoon any remaining or reserved stuffing into the liquid in the dish. Cover the dish tightly with aluminum foil, poke the foil a few times with a fork and bake until the leaves are tender when pierced with a paring knife, 30 to 45 minutes.

Uncover the artichokes bake until the top of the stuffing is browned and crusty and an outer leaf is easy to pluck from the artichoke, about 10 minutes. Serve the artichokes hot in shallow soup plates, spooning some of the cooking liquid around each.

Method for Hard Boiled Eggs:
These eggs aren't really boiled, but slow-cooked in hot water, giving you a tender white and an evenly cooked creamy yolk without a trace of green. Put as many eggs as you'd like to cook in a roomy saucepan. Pour in enough cold water to cover the eggs by at least 3 fingers. Bring the eggs to a boil over high heat, then immediately remove the pan from the heat. Let the eggs stand in the water until cooled to room temperature.
To peel the eggs: Remove the eggs from the water, roll them on a hard surface to crack the shells. Return the eggs to the water for a few minutes before peeling.