Globe artichokes are a delight to eat and to grow, but they are rather expensive to buy and a bit of a faff to prepare. This recipe makes the most of a small quantity of artichokes and is a lovely way to enjoy them.
Serves 4
4 large or 6 medium globe artichokes
A good squeeze of lemon juice
4 large eggs, at room temperature
4 teaspoons baby capers, rinsed and patted dry
For the dressing
¼ teaspoon Dijon or English mustard
⅛ garlic clove (a mere morsel), crushed with a little pinch of salt
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
2½ tablespoons extra virgin rapeseed or olive oil
A pinch of sugar, Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
To prepare the artichokes, remove 3 or 4 rows of the outer tough leaves from around the base of each artichoke and trim the stem back to the base. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and add the lemon juice. Add the artichokes and cook until the base is tender to the point of a knife and the leaves pull away easily. Freshly picked young artichokes may cook in 8 minutes; older, larger ones can take 20 minutes or so. Lift the cooked artichokes out with tongs and stand them upside down to drain and cool.
Meanwhile, bring a pan of water to a rolling boil. Lower the eggs into the pan, return to a simmer and cook for 7 minutes. Drain and hold the pan of eggs under cold running water to stop the cooking. Carefully peel the eggs.
For the dressing, whisk the ingredients together in a small bowl or shake in a jam jar to emulsify. Set aside.
Pull the leaves away from the artichokes – the first few may still be rather fibrous, but as you work in towards the heart, the bases of the leaves will become tender and are delicious to nibble. When you’ve pulled away all the leaves, the fibrous ‘choke’ on top of the heart will be exposed. Remove this, either by scraping it out with a teaspoon or by cutting the heart in half and cutting out the choke with a small knife. Thickly slice each heart.
Quarter the boiled eggs and arrange on a large plate or individual plates with the sliced artichoke hearts. Scatter the capers over them and then trickle with the dressing. Finish with a grinding of black pepper.
ANOTHER TAKE Cut the artichoke hearts into smaller pieces, roughly chop the eggs and capers, then toss everything together with the dressing. This is particularly good piled on to oiled toast as a bruschetta, or served with warm pitta or flatbreads.