Apron Strings

As is always the case, the sim­plest dishes with good fresh ingre­di­ents are always the best. These stuffed arti­chokes burst with gar­lic, pars­ley and lemon and the sub­tle addi­tion of anchovies. Really, what could be better?

The odd look­ing arti­choke has a ton of leg­ends sur­round­ing it going all the way back to Zeus. In 77AD one Roman nat­u­ral­ist called them “one of the earth’s monstrosities.”

Sure they look funny, but man do they taste good, as Clara and Mafalda can attest.

Ingredients

6 medium sized globe artichokes

1/2 Loaf of Italian bread (with crust cut off and bro­ken into small pieces)

3–4 cloves of gar­lic chopped finely

3/4 cup– 1 cup of parsley

2 cans of fil­lets of anchovies ( slice anchovies into small pieces and mix with 3–4 table­spoons of oil)

Directions

Soak arti­chokes in water for app.  5–10 minutes

Cut the stem of the arti­chokes down so that arti­choke sits flat.

Open petals wide.

Mix all stuff­ing ingre­di­ents together and add salt and pepper.

Stuff Artichoke with the mixture.

Sit Artichokes in a pot.

Add water until half of the arti­chokes are cov­ered and 1 table­spoon of olive oil.

Cook for 5 min­utes med-high.

Continue cook­ing for 2–2 1/2 hours on low.

Stuffing can be done with some bread crumbs and cheese-(parma)

Also with meat (minced veal and beef) sim­i­lar to a meatball