It was just over a year ago when my 95 year old Sicilian grandmother passed away. I blogged all about her and her impact on my life here. But something I don’t recall mentioning was her cooking. And man, could that woman cook.

I guess I took it for granted that she would always be around to make her exotic, healthy, quick and complicated meals for us. I mean, for my entire life, she was there, living in the same house. The aroma of her food wafting through the rooms. Eventually, the ingredients and steps for some of her signature dishes were etched on my brain but they will never quite taste, smell or be like hers.

More than a few of those are still in my head, not on paper. It wasn’t until I read Christine Ashworth’s blog, Artichokes are Silly, that I realized I should write these recipes down so my daughter has them and can pass them down to her children, proudly saying they belonged to her great-grandmother.

To honor that decision, I’m posting one recipe here. I promised Christine I would share it but I have to caution you, there’s one ingredient that cannot be duplicated. One ingredient that adds depth to the flavor and memories to the experience. That ingredient is grandma’s love. Which I miss terribly but am so grateful to have had for as long as I did.

Enjoy this. It’s a lot of work but worth it.

Stuffed Artichokes

Ingredients:

three artichokes – trimmed and washed

1 1/2 cups unseasoned breadcrumbs

1/2 cup grated cheese (I use equal parts of parmesan and romano but you can use your favorite one)

3 garlic cloves diced, or 1 teaspoon garlic powder or 1/2 teaspoon pressed garlic in tube

1/2 – 1 teaspoon crushed dried parsely

1 tablespoon capers (some brine is fine)

black pepper to taste

4 cups vegetable or chicken broth

Secret ingredients:

1 – 1 1/2 teaspoons sundried tomatoe paste (Amore brand is the best, IMO)
and
1 1/2 teaspoons olive paste (if you can’t find this, it can be omitted. It just gives an extra flavor zip but won’t be missed if you haven’t had it before)

Directions:

Cut thick stems from bottom of artichokes until they can sit flat on platter.

Cut about 1-inch from top of artichokes and discard. Use scissors to snip and discard all sharp leaf tips.

Gently spread leaves open and rinse under running water until cleaned – just spread leaves as you rinse so tiny fruit flies and such are rinsed away. Disgusting, I know, but I once found a live caterpillar in an artichoke as I was cleaning it. Better then, than as I was stuffing or eating it. :-S Fill pot with water, invert artichokes and let soak to clean.

Drain artichokes.

In a large bowl, combine rest of ingredients except for the broth. Using about 1/4 teaspoon (more for larger leaves, less for smaller leaves) ‘stuff’ each leaf with crumb mixture. Breading should sit at the bottom of each leaf. Do not overstuff or it will become too dry.

Place artichokes in large dutch oven, pour in enough broth to rise about 2 inches from bottom of artichokes, reserve remaining broth to add as needed. Bring to a boil. Lower to a light simmer, cover and cook for 40 minutes or until leaves separate easily from globe. Be sure to check level of broth regularly. If too much evaporates, either add more broth or some water (water will obviously reduce flavor so make extra broth your first choice)

Using a large ladle, scoop each artichoke with broth into a bowl.

To eat – pull each leaf and eat only pulpy bottom part with breading. When you reach the sharper inner leaves (usually bowed toward the center like a bud), pull them off as one clump and discard. Remove choke with spoon and enjoy the ‘heart’ or very bottom of the artichoke, which is always our favorite. Another favorite part of this is the scrumptious taste of crisp Italian bread dipped in the broth. Delicious.

I hope these directions were clear. I do this by memory and so I know the ins and outs of it but have never detailed it for others who may not be as familiar. There is a way to remove the choke prior to stuffing these, but I don’t know it. If anyone else does, please share. 🙂

Nothing would make me happier than if some of you make these part of your holiday traditions. I know, my grandmother would be all smiles in heaven.

Enjoy!