I swear I made these before seeing Julia Robert’s new movie, “Cook, Eat, Pray” “Eat, Pray, Love” – which is full of beautiful food shots when she is in Rome, not far from my house! This artichoke dish has impact and is completely edible – the stem is the best part! If you want to use your hands the stems make they perfect handle (these would go great with the Pressure CookerTurkey-on-a-stick for a tactile, unexpected, lunch!)
When preparing artichokes, you need to dump them in acidulated water to keep them from browning- well, I made double use of it as a steaming liquid (one less container to wash!)
| Pressure Cooker | Accessories | Pr. Cook Time | Pr. Level | Open |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 L or larger | steamer basket | 5 min. | High(2) | Normal |
Pressure Cooker Steamed and Fried Artichoke Blooms - yum!
Author: hip pressure cooking
Recipe type: Side, Pressure Cooker
Cuisine: Italian
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
INGREDIENTS
- 6 artichokes - long, narrow and not compact.
- 2 lemons, one juiced and one sliced
- 1 tbsp pepper corns, whole
- 3 garlic cloves, squashed
- 1-2 cups Olive Oil for frying (not the good stuff)
INSTRUCTIONS
- Prepare the acidualated water bath in your pressure cooker by adding two cups of water, the lemon juice, lemon slices, garlic and pepper corns.
- Prepare each artichoke by removing the toughest outer leaves, peeling the stem, cutting the dried, shriveled end of the stem, and slicing the top half of the leaves off.
- Then, tease the leaves open and and scoop out the hairy"choke" in the middle working quickly and delicately because immediately under the "choke" is the heart of the artichoke (which is the most tender and flavorful part).
- If this is the first time you are taking the choke out, you want to leave a little surface of almost "polka-dots" where the hairy chokes were attached. Tease the leaves open a little more and dunk in the pressure cooker head-down.
- When finished preparing all of the artichokes, shake them delicately to dislodge any pepper-corns, put the steamer basket in the pressure cooker, and if your stems are too tall, just fold them down so they fit in the pressure cooker.
- Close and lock the lid of the pressure cooker. Turn the heat up to high and when the cooker reaches pressure, lower to the heat to the minimum required by the cooker to maintain pressure. Cook for 5 minutes at high pressure.
- When time is up, open the cooker by releasing the pressure.
- Give the artichokes a little shake and move them to a strainer, and let them sit there, drying, for about 15 minutes.
- When they are relatively dry, heat up about ½" , or 2cm, of olive oil in a high-edged pan. Give the artichokes a final open teasing, and smash them down into the hot oil - you can do several at a time if you have a larger pan than what I used.
- Fry the bloom of the artichoke until they are just starting to get golden brown edges (about 3-4 minutes) and then move them to a folded paper towel to absorb the extra oil.
- Serve warm or at room temperature with a tarty yogurt sauce!
These look amazing as decorations and dinner! I can’t believe you can eat the entire thing! Great job!
That film (and book) is actually “Eat, Pray, Love”. I’d be more likely to see the film if there was more cooking and less romance, actually. Thanks for all the recipes. -Charles (N. America)
Thanks Charles, I inadvertently renamed to the film to include the TWO things that I love the most!
Ciao,
L
Great recipe, and the photos are inspiring.
I like the twice-cooked idea. These looks a bit like carciofi alla giudia only less caramelized since they’re already tender when they hit the oil. Probably lighter, too.
Franco, you can always decode my recipes! Yes, it’s a version of Carciofi alla Giuda!
Ciao,
L
when in Brazil a few years ago we had served to us an appetiser that was made up of cooked (in a pressure cooker) whole artichokes and a dip. we were served a while artichoke each on a plate and there was a small dish beside it that had fresh crushed garlic and freshly chopped tomato … our hosts explained you added the extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar from the table and then proceed to remove the leaves from the artichoke one at a time… dipping the meaty bottom of the leaf into the dipping mixture before eating the bottom and discarding the rest of the leaf… as you made you way through the artichoke the meatier portion became more prevalent and i have to say it was amazing…. when you had removed all the leaves you used the rest of your dip, and the really meaty parts of the artichoke on beautiful crusty fresh bread that was brought to the table, on cue, still warm….my husband didn’t like artichokes before then but is a convert now… i seems to remember there was a slight lemon taste in there somewhere…. has anyone ever made anything like this or know who long i would need to cook the artichokes for?
That’s a great memory. I think you simply had whole steamed artichoke. What you should do is just trim off the top and rub it with lemon to keep it form oxidizing and then just steam the whole artichoke according to its size’s cooking time.
Ciao,
L