Wow! The challenges: Amazingly enough, do not begin with the page and a half list of ingredients. They begin with artichokes, which are supposed to be in season; a novice, and time, time, time...
I had very high hopes for this recipe. I love artichoke hearts. I'm still wondering how they get them out, even though I've attempted this once before with better artichokes. I think I'm officially sold on quartered frozen artichoke hearts, or even jarred. It could be that my artichokes were too big or too tough. I'm not going to profess to be good at buying the right artichoke.
It could be that I am not a huge breadcrumb fan. I think breadcrumbs are useful in some things, but there are far more flavorful foods to stuff your veggies with. If I were to be doing this recipe, I'd probably pick a finely diced andouille or chorizo sausage and cook it until it was tiny, then stuff add the cheeses, parsley, basil, oregano and green onions. The bread crumbs themselves were very flavorful, though they over-powered most of the parmigiano-reggiano and pecorino-romano cheeses. The cheese provided what I believe was the intended bite factor, but the flavor of the breadcrumbs came through over the cheeses. I did enjoy the crushed red pepper, ground black pepper, and cayenne pepper(in quite small amounts) in the bread crumb mix, but in the end, they too were hard to notice. All of this is mixed together, then set aside.
Next, you mix olive oil, hot water, lemon juice, and grated lemon zest. This mixture gets drizzled over the bread crumbs, then they are set aside while you prepare the artichokes.
Now the work begins. First, saw off the top third of the artichoke...I think it was more like half to two-thirds on these big boys. Then you get to scoop out the choke with a spoon or a melon baller. I now need to re-shape my melon-baller. The spoon survived, but probably because we traded it off with a sturdy paring knife. James became an immense help with the artichoke, otherwise, I might have tossed them in the backyard and bought frozen hearts. The hearts are the best part after all, and the part we work so hard to get to.
After an hour of prepping this choke and breaking melon-ballers, we finally got close to a stuffing point. I finished slicing off the stems to stand-up the artichoke and prep it for stuffing. Also, when you cut off the top, rub the entire exposed surface with lemon. When you get the choke out, rub the artichoke again with lemon.
Next, or once you get to scooping out the choke-if you need a break, heat olive oik in the bottom of a medium skillet of medium heat, when it is hot, add the garlic and anchovies, cook until fragrant...I used this as part of the braising liquid-oops. Then I added 1" of water, 2T. of extra-virgin olive oil, salt(I might have forgotten the salt-but there's anchovies), a lemon half-cut into pieces.
Now, stuff the bread-crumb mixture into the artichokes-one at a time-working from the outside in. When the leaves get to tough to pry apart, stuff the middle. Cut another lemon half into slices and top each stuffed artichoke with a lemon slice, and drizzle one tablespoon of olive oil over each artichoke. Add the artichokes to the pot, they should fit snug to hold each other up, and bring the braising liquid to a boil. Once the liquid boils, reduce the heat to a low simmer, and cook for 1 1/4-1 1/2 hours, until the leaves are very tender and pull away very easily. Yes, now that you've gotten in the artichoke work-out(which I was foolish enough to attempt on a week-night), you must wait for said artichoke to tender up...Maybe we should tenderize it first next time. It might be easier to work with;-).
Once they have become tender, remove the artichokes from the pot and allow to cool for at least 15 minutes before serving. Drizzle with cooking juices, if desired.
After tasting them, the heart was good, but slightly more bitter than I'm used to. I think Emeril likes his veggies slightly more bitter than I do. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't to die for either. I felt let down with the bitter aftertaste of the leaves. It could have been the artichoke too...I don't know. I would still add the sausage instead of the breadcrumbs. At least then, I'll know I've cheated on any diet I've attempted. I think the breadcrumbs are still sticking to my arteries and contributing to the weight I've put back on since cooking through this book.
I may have to try these again one weekend, but I was not terribly impressed. Maybe I'll have better luck once I become an artichoke expert. I did not plan to become an artichoke expert.
I will not likely make this recipe again though.
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