Stuffed Artichokes!

Hello lovelies! SO, before my dad's grandmother, Nonny as we called her, passed away, she used to make amazing stuffed artichokes. However, she never gave anybody her recipe, so I tried last summer, I believe, to make some, then just kind of forgot about it. Then, this year when I was taking one of my many strolls around the grocery store, I saw some artichokes that looked insanely fresh and in season, so I decided to give it another try. I attempted to make them by picking out ingredients that I thought would meld together well and be able to make the classic italian dish and do it some justice in the process. My dad loved it so much, that he said it was actually better than Nonny's! Therefore, I decided to make them again and show all of you how I did it!

First, you want to wash the artichoke and cut the stem off so it is flush with the bottom. Then, break off the bottom layer of leaves. This will make sure that none of your pieces, or leaves rather, are stringy, because the stem is very stringy and if you don't take the first couple of layers of leaves and the stem off, they will bring some of the stem with them and its just gross. The one of the left has been done, and the one on the left hasn't. You can see the difference in the how they look between the one that has been prepared and the one that hasn't. Also, be careful because on the tips of the leaves, there are little spikes that can actually cut you. A lot of people cut them off of each individual leaf, but personally, I think its a waste of time and its not like you eat that part, so I don't bother. Steam it for about 15 minutes, so its almost fully cooked.

Then, you want to roughly dice up some onion. You wont really feel the texture of these when you eat the artichokes, but I just think it adds some nice flavor to the bread crumbs.

Heat some olive oil in a pan and then add the onion when it gets hot. Cook the onions down and sweat them out until they become almost translucent.

Then you want to mince up some garlic and add it into the pot as well. I used about 2 cloves. Let that cook on low heat until the onions become translucent. Once they become translucent, add some fresh chopped parsley, and let it cook in the oil until it just begins to wilt.

Then, you want to add your bread crumbs. I chose unseasoned because I like to season my own, but you can use italian seasoned if you'd like. Stir in the bread crumbs until they absorb all of the oil and look almost crumbly like in the picture above. Let them cook on medium low heat for a few minutes. If you need to, add a little more olive oil, or a little bit more bread crumbs until it gets to the right consistency. You want then to be able to be shaped so that they don't just fall apart when you put them into the leaves, but not too wet because we'll be adding more liquid later.

Next, whisk up some eggs. This will work as a binding agent for the stuffing.

Then, add about a half of a cup of the bread crumbs into the eggs and whisk that mixture together. This is important because since the bread crumb mixture will be hot, if you add the eggs into the pan, or all of the bread crumbs into the eggs, they will start to cook and you'll end up with scrambled egg chunks in your stuffed artichokes. By tempering the eggs, you can ensure that they reach a proper equilibrium with the bread crumbs so that they don't cook by themselves, and rather help bind the bread crumbs together when they cook. I also added about a cup or a cup and a half of fresh grated parmesan cheese.

Then, you just want to take a little bit of the breadcrumb mixture into each of the leaves.

It should look something like this once you've stuffed every leaf. Then, drizzle it with a little bit of olive oil on top and sprinkle with some more parmesan cheese. Then, steam it for about 5 more minutes, and you're ready to go! If you try this out, let me know how you like it in the comments! 

Until next time,

K