Guessing game

 

Any idea what this is?

 

 

 

Oh, did you get distracted by the beauty outside my kitchen window? I do too, constantly.

 

Every spring, when the wisteria blooms, I open the windows, breathe in the fragrance and take a million pictures. I have the same identical pictures from the last seven years (which those of you who follow me on Instagram - unfortunately for you - already know).

 

 

 

 

Never mind that that plant is a major pain in the butt the rest of the year: it is invasive, it is destroying the façade of the building, it gets gnarled in the mechanism of our rolling shades (breaking them more than once). It manages to somehow grow through our window frame. To top it all off, a bird colony has nested right over our window. At first I was excited, but that changed quickly when they started crapping all over my window panes, window sill and all the leaves beneath their nests. They squabble and fight all the time and chirp in an eerie hitchockesque manner in the middle of the night.

Not to mention the branches are bare and gnarly and full of bird droppings in the winter too; or that it is so overgrown in the summer, barely any daylight gets into the kitchen. Or that every year an army of guys with saws invade my apartment to prune it, leaving a mess of leaves and broken branches and yes, bird s**t, all over my kitchen to clean up.

 

But it is beautiful for two weeks a year, I'll give you that.

 

Back to my initial query. Do you know this vegetable?

Before cooking

How to clean an Italian artichoke step-by-step

 

 

I have loved artichokes since I can remember, long before moving to the largest artichoke producer in the world.

 

As a young child, I remember ordering the large, green globes in French restaurants, pulling the steamed leaves off one at a time and dipping them into melted butter.

 

In Italy, however, the most commonly found artichokes are not as large and round. Sure, a larger variety exists here too, the Romanesco artichoke, but smaller varieties, some of which are extremely thorny, are more readily available. They taste every bit as delicious as the globe shaped ones, but their leaves are not quite as fleshy and getting to the deliciousness hidden in their core is a little more arduous.

 

 

Prettier than a bouquet of flowers

 

For years I was intimidated at the thought of cleaning them but it didn't matter because in most Italian markets they clean them before/while selling them.

 

That is not always the case, however. And if you buy them at the supermarket, the uncleaned ones are much cheaper than the cleaned ones, not to mention they stay fresher longer than the latter. So learning this very simple skill can be useful, especially because spring is - supposedly - right around the corner and artichokes have started appearing a-plenty around here.

 

 

 

 

The first thing you will need to prepare when cleaning an artichoke is a large bowl of water with some lemon juice or vinegar in it, to keep oxidation at bay. Artichokes (and your finger nails) will tend to turn brown as soon as you start cutting them.

 

The next step is to get rid of the outer, tougher leaves. A suggestion: always throw out more than you think you need to, even the slightest resistance is off-putting when you are chewing. Trust me.

 

 

Then you cut off the tip. Here the same rule applies: cut off more than you think necessary. You want only the tenderest part of the vegetable.

 

 

 

 

The last (or first if you prefer) step is to shorten the stem. Here is another tip: do not throw them out!!! If you peel off the stringy outer layer, the inside is perfectly edible and delicious, which makes sense when you think it is just a extention of the heart (that we all know is the best part, right?).

 

 

 

 

Whenever you have a cleaned artichoke and stem, drop it into the bowl of acidulated water.

  

 

 

At this point you can go many ways. You can cook the artichokes whole or in several other ways. This variety of artichoke is small enough that you can eat the whole choke without a problem. But if you are stuffing them or cutting them into pieces for a recipe, you will now proceed to cleaning the choke out.

 

If you are dealing with a whole artichoke, spread open the leaves and scoop out the inner choke with a sturdy spoon. If you will be using them in pieces anyway, cut them in halves or quarters and proceed to clean with a spoon or paring knife.

 

 

 

 

Now that they are clean, go crazy!
You can make frittata, you can braise them with potaoes, parsley and garlic like I did (the trick is that the potatoes soak up all the flavor and taste like artichoke hearts too), you can use them in a risotto or a pasta sauce. Another typical preparation is to slice them very thinly and eat them raw with Parmesan flakes and dressed with olive oil and lemon juice. It may sound bizzarre but it is delicious. Or you could steam them and preserve them in olive oil for when they will no longer be in season.

 

 

 

 

If, on the other hand, you are lazy and don't want all the fuss or you have some lovely Romanesco artichokes, skip this post (too late!) eat them like this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Puntarelle alla romana - Roman chicory salad

The thing I love about Italy is that, despite globalization, there is still a charmingly (and sometimes annoyingly) predominant national, regional or even local aspect to everyday life in this country.

For example, did you know that before Christmas priests still bless each and every house or apartment in their parish? And offices sometimes too. I kid you not. Yesterday, a bunch of financial analysts and traders stood around a priest crossing themselves and murmuring Hail Marys and Our Fathers while he sprinkled holy water over the market monitors and stacks of financial papers.

Hand-carved South Tyrolean wood crib figurines

Every year a girl in our office, who is famous for her recipe, makes large amounts of crema di mascarpone (mascarpone cheese, eggs and more) to eat with the office panettone and pandoro at Christmas time. Panettone is originally from Milan and is made with raisins, candied fruit and lemon zest. Pandoro (golden bread), a simple sweet yeast bread, is originally from Verona, it is star shaped and covered in confectioner's sugar to resemble snow. 

My writing this post has ignited a discussion in my office. Many of my colleagues come from towns that are often only a few kms apart and just outside Milan, yet their traditions are a total revelation to their neighbors. My colleague and friend who sits facing me, from the Northern part of Lake Maggiore, mentioned she was suprised to notice there were no camels in the bakeries on Januray 6th. Camels? January 6th is the Epiphany but in Italy it is also the day of La Befana, an old lady dressed in rags who brings good children presents and sweets (or black candy in place of the charcoal of olden days if the children were naughty) on a broomstick. This day marks the end of the holiday season in Italy. But how does a camel fit in with brooms and rags? It seems the origins of this tradition are unknown, but it definitely is linked with the arrival of the Three Wise Men at the manger. My colleague to my right is from Milan but her mother is from Lodi. It was traditional at her house to put a glass of water out on Christmas Eve and to drink a sip of it the next morning, because the water had supposedly turned holy during the night.

On the day of Santa Lucia, December 13th, in Sicily they eat cuccìa, a pudding (although there are savory versions made with chickpeas too) made with boiled wheat berries, ricotta cheese and sugar to commemorate the relief from a food shortage on the island in the 17th century. On that day Sicilians traditionally do not eat bread or pasta, although it is more a thing of the past. My mother in law made this dessert on Monday and I tasted it for the first time and enjoyed it. Then again, what don't I enjoy?

Back to the variety of Italian recipes. 

There is a vegetable, called puntarelle, that is typically Roman. Why, you must be wondering, am I writing about a recipe that lists an ingredient you probably can't get where you live? First of all, because all streets lead to Rome so you may pass through one day and decide to taste this specialty while you are sitting in a trattoria in a picturesque piazza. Secondly, because it seems many of you enjoy posts related to Italian peculiarities.