Unable to be at home back in the Chicago area with family this year I had originally planned on taking care of a few things around the house. My neighbors however, graciously invited me to join them and their family for Thanksgiving dinner. I’m delighted.
I asked if I could make anything of course and she said that she had heard about my stuffed artichokes – “could you make those?” Absolutely! Its one of my specialties – and often requested.
I called the local grocer and they had just received a fresh supply of artichokes. They were beautiful and I nabbed the best twelve I could find.
My take on stuffed artichokes is a bit different than what I have seen in cook books in both recipe and method although there are some similarities.
I trim the artichoke top and leaves. I also trim the base making it flat. I take the trimmed chokes and place them in a bin of water while prepare the stuffing.
For the stuffing I use finely ground bread crumbs. I coarsely chop and saute several sticks of celery, about eight medium sized white onions, and about ten cloves of fresh garlic. I saute these separately in butter until the celery and onion start to become translucent. The garlic, in a hot pan with olive oil is only sauteed for a moment. I finely chop portabello mushrooms and in butter saute only for about a minute or so.
The above are added to the breadcrumbs and mixed thoroughly. Then I add kosher salt, pepper, paprika, finely chopped fresh parsley and grated Romano cheese. I also finely chop about five fillets of anchovies. You cant really taste them but they bring out the flavor of other things. – Yes you can leave them out if you wish. After mixing everything the breading becomes very moist but still crumbly.
I drain the artichokes and use my thumbs to pull back the leaves from the center and spread out the leaves all around. I do not take out the smaller more tender leave from the center — as they are incredibly tasty.
I stuff the chokes starting from the center and make sure to get the stuffing into each leaf. After stuffing these artichokes are over six inches in diameter.
I place the stuffed artichokes into a large deep roasting pan and drizzle them with olive oil and sprinkle them with paprika. In the bottom of the pan I put about two cups of chicken broth and then cover and seal the entire pan with foil.
I place them in a preheated 350 degree oven and let steam bake for about 35 minutes or until I can pull off one of the lower leaves with little to no resistance. Once they are cooked I remove the foil cover and place them under the broiler till the tops and breading browns. This gives a great texture.
They make a great presentation and although they can be a bit messy to eat – everyone seems to love them even the kids to take delight in the adventure.
If you like, there are more recipes in the cook book section of this site. It is a small portion of my recipes here at the lodge. I’m going through my notes and will be adding more.
To everyone: I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving. My best to you and yours.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow! We grow artichokes and are always on the lookout for new recipes. Can’t wait to try this one.
Man, these sound really tasty. As much as I like artichokes, we rarely cook them in our house. This has prompted me to add them to the menu…
Hey Jeannine and Aaron — for sure — its my old stomping ground — that would be great!
Hey Chris and Mandy – if you like the way they turn out then next time make the same stuffing but then take one cup of the stuffing mixture and mix with one cup of fresh crab meat. — Ill send you over a full recipe.
What??? You get to Chicago? You must call on us when you are back here sometime and have a beer at HouseInProgress.
Sounds great! My wife’s a piscatarian who loves anchovies and artichoke, and this sounds like a winner. I’ll give it a try.