Artichokes are a typical winter vegetable. Use them to give a special touch to your Christmas recipes. Here are some ideas
Winter, artichokes time! This is the right season to taste this vegetable with a unique flavor, rich in iron, vitamins and minerals, but low in calories (only 22 kcal per 100 grams!). The characteristic bitter taste is given by the presence of the cinarina, an active ingredient that helps the body to detoxify liver and kidneys, promoting diuresis and intestinal motility.
Raw or cooked
Thorny outside, but tender inside, the artichoke is a versatile food: you can eat it fried, fried, baked, but also raw, in fresh and delicious salads. This makes it a papabile ingredient for your dishes Christmas menu: if you are short of ideas, look for one that can do for you among the ideas below. But first learn to clean the artichokes, without pricking and staining your hands.
How to clean artichokes
If you do not want to find your hands all black, use gloves. With the help of a knife, remove the thorny tips and the first hard leaves, then cut the stem and peel it with a potato peeler. Then cut the artichoke in half and remove the inner beard. Then put the cleaned artichoke in a bowl with water and lemon, until cooked, to prevent it from oxidizing and becoming black.
Artichokes: appetizers
Are you looking for a delicious appetizer? Try this artichoke and broad beans salad. After mashing the artichokes, blend the beans, together with softened bread, anchovies, gherkins, oil, half a clove of garlic and chopped parsley: this will be the sauce to season your artichokes in salad. Another greedy salad is the one with the mullet bottarga: after having cleaned the artichokes, divide 50 g of bottarga into small pieces and shake it with oil and a spoonful of mustard. Together with the artichokes, add radishes and avocado, both sliced. Complete with the mozzarella, the bottarga cut into slices and with the emulsion.
Artichokes: the first courses
Nothing beats lasagna at Christmas, but if you want to propose them in a vegetarian, or simply light, try this variation artichokes and brie. After having cleaned the artichokes, cut them and let them stew in a pan with oil and a clove of garlic. Once cooked, add them to the slices of brie and the béchamel and use the mixture obtained to fill the pasta sheets. Bake at 180 degrees and cook for half an hour.
Artichokes: main courses
As a main course, stuffed artichoke street! Here are two tasty and curious versions. There before provides that cut the artichokes washed in half, then scalded in boiling water. In the meantime, mix the slices of bread with the grated cheese, salt, pepper and an aromatic mixture. After having stuffed the artichokes with the aromatic bread, place them in the oven at 170 ° C for 10 minutes. There second version it is more exotic: after removing the stalks from the artichokes and having them cleaned well inside, dip them together with the stalks in boiling water and cook for 10 minutes. In the meantime, take the tahina sauce, add it to some Greek yogurt, oil and coriander and use it to stuff the artichokes.
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