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Journalism of Courage
LATELY when I see those big, fat, gorgeous, screamingly fresh artichokes piled up on the tables at the farmers market, all I want to do is whack off their long stems, boil them and serve them in their most classic preparation: Artichokes vinaigrette.
There8217;s nothing like pulling off those succulent leaves, dipping them in dressing8212;or melted butter, or olive oil, or why not just admit it? mayonnaise8212;and scraping the flesh with your teeth.
In the crown, you get the artichoke8217;s marvellous flavour distilled8212;that distinctive, almost grassy flavour that8217;s such a tease in the leaves. How perfect that you can8217;t have it until you8217;ve earned it by working your way through them.
The big globe artichokes are lovely to share a deux, or to set out as an appetiser before anyone sits down. But they8217;re even more satisfying eaten alone, at a fully set table, as a main course.
The classic artichoke starter, what you8217;d find in a bistro in Paris, is 8216;8216;artichaut8217;8217; vinaigrette; the sauce is a simple one made with red wine vinegar, a little Dijon mustard, good olive oil, some chopped shallots, maybe some chervil and parsley.
But a friend lately found herself with some leftover 8216;8216;house vinaigrette8217;8217; she had made from Thomas Keller8217;s cookbook Bouchon. It8217;s simplicity itself8212;just red wine vinegar, canola oil and lots of Dijon mustard. Keller doesn8217;t even include salt or pepper, but curiously, it doesn8217;t need it.
At any rate, because of the technique8212;it8217;s whirred first in a blender with just half the oil, then the rest is whisked in8212;it has an ultra-creamy consistency, like something between a vinaigrette and a mayonnaise. It8217;s a perfect dip for artichokes.
So how best to cook those puppies? The artichoke world is divided into people who steam and those who boil. At my local farmers market, shopping for 8217;chokes, I scanned the crowd, looking for French chefs who might shed some light on the classic preparation.
I found two: Bruno Lopez, chef de cuisine at the Hotel Bel-Air and Alain Giraud of Four Stars Private Cuisine, both in Los Angeles. I asked them what they could tell me about artichauts vinaigrette.
The late French comic Coluche once pointed out, Giraud said, that an artichoke is the only food that the more you eat it, the more you have on your plate.
Yes, that8217;s true. But should you boil them or steam them? I wondered aloud.
8216;8216;The housewife boils it,8217;8217; said Giraud; the two chefs agreed that this was right and proper.
Anything but salt in the water? It8217;s commonly said a little lemon juice keeps the colour nice and bright.
8216;8216;Some chefs don8217;t use lemon,8217;8217; said Giraud. 8216;8216;There8217;s no problem if it8217;s darker and a little oxidised.8221; 8216;8216;The flavour8217;s better without it,8217;8217; said Lopez. 8216;8216;It is the natural taste of the artichoke.8217;8217;
We tried steaming and boiling, using jumbo-size green globe artichokes, with their long stems still attached.
To prepare them, start by cutting off the stem at the base, making it flush, so the artichoke doesn8217;t wobble on the plate. The stems are delicious, by the way; pare off the hard outer skin, then cook them any way you like. I8217;d slice and saute them and toss them with pasta and olives. Then pull off the small outer leaves at the base, trim the bottom, use kitchen shears to cut the points off the remaining leaves and cut off the top with a big knife.
Steaming in salted water took 45 minutes and resulted in a fairly dried-out artichoke with an unpleasantly spongy texture.
The flavour and texture were far superior when we boiled them in plenty of salted water. I knew that the fresher artichokes are, the more quickly they cook, but surprisingly, these were tender in just 14 or 15 minutes. We didn8217;t use any lemon, but the artichokes stayed vivid green. And they were not soggy8212;a concern to some with boiling, but we drained them upside-down immediately, and they were fine.
But what if they sit around for a week or more? How much longer would they take to cook? We kept them eight more days, then did another boiling test: This time it took 17 minutes.
Makes you wonder how long ago those artichokes in the supermarket8212;the ones that take 40 minutes to boil8212;were picked.
