At the fruttivendola (fruit and veg shop) in La Villa, Bagni di Lucca, last week, I found the first signs of spring vegetables. Among them were carciofi mamme, or mamma’s artichokes. They’re bigger and more rotund than the pointy petite winter ones. The mamme don’t have spines at the tips of the leaves to draw blood if you’re not careful while preparing them.
Mamma's artichokes are fat and gentle
In fact, they resemble the globe artichokes we get in England during the summer, which I usually boil and eat dipped in melted butter. I’d never cooked them in Italy and I could have found a recipe on the internet when I got home, but it wouldn’t have told me how people prepare it here where I live. I always ask the person I’m buying from; they invariably know how to cook what they’re selling, and love to describe it to you. One of the many advantages of small shops over supermarkets. This one was simple.
Assembling the stuffing
Break off some of the outer leaves. Cut the stem off even with the base so it will sit in a saucepan. Peel the stringy outer part off the stems. Make a stuffing from a little stale bread softened in water and crumbled by hand, some finely chopped pancetta, the peeled stems, parsley and garlic. The quantities are up to you. Open out the leaves and use a teaspoon to remove the choke from the centre if there is one. Press the stuffing into the centre and between the individual leaves. Heat some extra-virgin olive oil in a saucepan into which the stuffed artichokes will just fit and put them in bottoms down. Brown the bottoms for about 5 minutes. Pour in a glass of white wine and boil until the alcohol has evaporated. Add boiling water to come halfway up the artichokes, cover and simmer for about 45 minutes until tender. Remove the lid, raise the heat and boil until the liquid has reduced to form a good flavoured sauce. Allow to cool a bit before serving so they can be eaten with your fingers. Use some crusty country bread to mop up the sauce. Messy but full of beautifully blended flavours.
Break off a leaf and some stuffing and scrape the artichoke flesh off the leaf with your lower teeth
Try it yourself, but please, please wait until globe artichokes are in season near you. It takes some time to prepare and won’t be worth the effort if the artichokes have been flown halfway round the world and then kept in a warehouse for a week and in the supermarket for another week. If no one cultivates artichokes near you, don’t bother. Cook something else.
Patrizia has some great fruit and vegetables in her shop. I love artichokes….I’ll try these.
Thanks for her name, Debra; I’d forgotten it. I agree, her fruit and vegetables always look beautiful and the artichokes certainly tasted beautiful too.
Thanks Heather. I love the idea of using the peeled stems in the stuffing. They’re always the best part I think. And I love your words of wisdom at the end. Artichokes aren’t very well understood in Australia. They scare people off I think so they tend to hang around a bit too long, even at the remaining small fruit shops we still have. I’ve learnt to check the cut stems very carefully….
I only learned about using the stems recently from Renato in my village shop. I was buying some artichokes with particularly long stems and, since they’re sold by weight, I was thinking to myself that I was paying a lot for something I was going to be throwing away. He must have read my mind and mentioned that I could cook the stems too. I’ve never looked back. They’re great in risotto.
How funny Heather. I love that. I learnt from my landlady, I suppose in Perugia. She taught me her secret way of preparing carciofi without throwing half of it away and still avoiding the tough bits. Good thing they are worth all the effort!
There’s nothing like learning from the locals. That’s why I include very few recipes on my blog. I want people to come here and let me help them find out for themselves from the true source of knowledge—the people, not books.
Thank you for the recipe Heather, I shall be definitely trying this one
I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.
I’m making this when I get home!
Let me know how it turns out.