Sunday, August 21, 2011

Artichoke fricassee

My friend Lucy, she of household pet pig fame, is one of my favorite, fearless cooks. Obsessed as she is with her Big Green Egg barbecue and smoker, last night's dinner comprised homemade pizzas (made on the Egg) and marinated double lamb chops, which are my very favorite thing and were made for me, I know, because she's worried I'm not eating enough (I've lost about 15 pounds in the last 8 weeks and I swan around gazing in the mirror at my new sylph-like figure and shrunken cavity of a stomach -- it's called the stress diet apparently). Determined to feed me, as a mother would, she created a feast. One of the highlights was this extraordinarily delicious yet slightly fiddly artichoke fricassee from Greek chef Michael Psilakis:

picture courtesy GMA


# 8 medium artichokes, long stems left on, if present
# 2 lemons
# 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
# 2 large Spanish or sweet onions, thickly sliced
# 2 bulbs fennel, thickly sliced crosswise
# 2 cups white wine
# 2 quarts water
# 2 fresh bay leaves or 4 dried leaves
# Kosher salt and cracked black pepper
# 2 tablespoons garlic purée
# Generous handful small, picked sprigs dill
# 4 ounces (1 stick) cold, unsalted butter, cut into pieces

directions

Pull off the tough artichoke leaves until you reach the pale yellow leaves.
Lucy says:  I got scared about the hairy part and so I took off all the leaves. (That's what she said!)

Cut off the pointed tops about half an inch above the base. Trim the dark bits from the stem and base with a vegetable peeler. As you work, throw the trimmed artichokes into a bowl of cold water acidulated with the juice of 1 lemon.

In a large, heavy pot or Dutch oven, warm the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and fennel, and sauté until slightly wilted, about 5 to 7 minutes. Deglaze the pan with the white wine and simmer briskly until completely evaporated. Add the drained artichokes, water, bay leaves, 1 tablespoon kosher salt, and a generous grinding of pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, partially cover the pan, and simmer until the artichokes are soft and offer almost no resistance to the point of a knife, about 35 minutes.

Drain the artichokes and vegetables, reserving all the braising liquid (discard the bay leaves). Let cool for 10 minutes. Pour 2 cups of the braising liquid into a blender and add three quarters of the fennel and onion pieces (reserve the remaining vegetables and the artichokes). Purée until completely smooth. (Reserve the remaining braising liquid for another use.) Return the puréed liquid to the pan; simmer very actively over high heat to reduce and thicken the juices, 10 to 15 minutes.

Stir in the Garlic Purée, the juice of the remaining lemon, and the dill. Return the artichokes and remaining vegetables to the pan. Reduce to a simmer and swirl in the butter until melted. Remove from the heat.

-- Courtesy Michael Psilakis and GMA

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

you, wishful bourgeois one stressed"" whats up.