They are difficult to clean and complicated to cook … how many people say about them artichokes? And yet they are vegetables, a gift fromwinter, with important nutritional qualities. Perhaps you do not know, for example, that i artichokes I'm detoxifying and therefore particularly indicated after the holidays or a challenging weekend, for clean up the liver and organism e encourage diuresis. But they are also important for the amount of fibers that contain, which helps to promote it intestinal regularity.

How to choose and clean the artichokes

The first thing to do before buying artichokes is verify its freshness. Such as? Just grab the head of the artichoke, pressing it between the index and the thumb. If the leaves flatten and do not resist, it means that the artichoke is not fresh. The same applies to the stains on the leaves, avoid buying them if they are present. We then move on to artichoke cleaning, which is a very important step for any recipe you want to prepare: it will seem to you to waste a lot, but it is essential eliminate the outer leaves harder to get one velvety creamy and avoid annoying strands or pieces of the vegetable under your teeth. Now let's proceed, ready to prepare one delicious and warm velvety artichoke for tonight's dinner?

Artichokes: what to do with waste

The recipe of the artichoke velvety

Ingredients
3 medium artichokes
1 big potato
1 leek
1 liter of vegetable stock
extra virgin olive oil as needed
Salt and Pepper To Taste

Method

Clean the artichokes well. Remove the hardest outer leaves, cut the upper part (where the thorns are) and peel the stem in order to eliminate the most stringy pieces. Cut the artichokes in half and with the help of a paring knife cut the beard and throw it. Then cut the rest, both head and stem, into wedges, and put them to rest in cold water with squeezed lemon, so that they do not become black. Attention, even the hands in the cleaning of the artichokes darken, so if you want to protect them you can wear gloves, or rub with lemon juice.

In a saucepan with high sides, brown the finely chopped leek with extra-virgin olive oil, then add the artichokes and the potato, peeled and cut into cubes. You do fry the vegetables for a few minutes, stirring to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the pot, e add then the vegetable broth. Season with salt and pepper and cook over high heat for at least 20-30 minutes. To check that the vegetables are ready, just stick them with a fork and see if they are soft. Then adjust to salt and pepper.

When artichokes and potatoes have softened, pass them with a immersion blender, directly in the pot. If the cream is too liquid, let it cook for a few minutes without a lid.

Serve warm, with gods toasted croutons, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and grated Parmesan cheese. If you wish, you can also add some pepper or a quenelle of fresh cheese.

The greedy touch? A few slices of artichoke kept aside e fried: crispy and irresistible!