Tag: Artichokes

Frizzled Artichokes with Gribiche Sauce

I have been wanting to make a Gribiche Sauce ever since I first read about it in an old edition of Gourmet Traveller which teamed it with some deep-fried Artichokes.  The other day in the greengrocer I saw some gorgeous artichokes that prompted my memory of this dish.

Frzzled Artichokes1

These looked so beautiful…but first, let’s talk Gribiche.  Gribiche is a French sauce…kind of like a tartare sauce with hard-boiled eggs.  It is really tasty.  I love the way the creaminess of the eggs offset against the sharpness of the vinegar, cornichons and capers.  These are my flavours!!!

And I also adore artichokes, but hardly ever cook them because let’s face it, they are not the most user friendly of veg are they?  Even if they are one of the prettiest!

Via Olivers Market

These were so fun to eat. I can just imagine, after the ‘rona, when we can entertain again, having a row of these down the table with little dishes of gribiche for people to dip into!  But wait!!!  The fun doesn’t stop there.  These are also incredibly fun to make.  Watch the leaves as they fry…

They move!!!!

How cool is that!  Have you ever seen anything like it? Also apologies for the sound of my podcast coming through – I was so excited and wanted to capture these moving leaves that I didn’t have time to turn it off!  And if anyone else out there listens to Kim and Ket Stay Alive – Maybe, Hey!  How are you!  I am a fellow fan!

Frzzled Artichokes2

The recipe for the Gribiche Sauce in Gourmet Traveller is pretty fancy in that it contains both chervil and tarragon, neither of which are currently available, it being the dead of winter here!  Also, I’m not sure if chervil has ever been available in the shops.  I feel it is something you need to grow.  And I used the last of my homegrown tarragon for Meredith Baxter Birney’s Tarragon Chicken.  So, I fried the artichokes according to the Gournet Traveller recipe but I made the Gribiche Sauce using this recipe from the New York Times.    I did have a little dill in the fridge which I added because I thought it might help to give a slightly aniseedy flavour which would have been present with the chervil and tarragon.

Frzzled Artichokes4

The Recipe

Deep Fried Artichokes with Gribiche

Other Ways To Use Gribiche

If you happen to have some Gribiche sauce left over after making this, you can use it up in the following ways:

  • With Asparagus – this seems to be a very popular combination.
  • And speaking of toast, Australian Gourmet Traveller has a recipe for  grilled cheese with speck and gribiche.  It looks spec(k)tacular!
  • Heston likes it in a salad
  • It goes well with chicken
  • And fish
  • Even beef can take a bit of Gribiche sauce!

So no shortage of options for any leftovers!

That’s me done!  Have a wonderful week everyone!

Artichokes – Delicious Vegetable or WMD?

Artichokes didn’t feature on the menu when I was growing up.  I’m also not overly fond of the ones you get in the deli which taste more of the vinegar they come in that anything else.  So, I had actually never eaten a fresh artichoke until last year…I‘m not sure what prompted me to buy some because let’s face it, they’re not an attractive proposition.

Water Lily Lamb Salad
Water Lily Lamb Salad

I don’t mean the way they look, that’s awesome  – the amazing colours, the gorgeous mix of purple and green and their sculptural shape…

Artichokes

They are almost like something that should be in should be in a bouquet rather than on your plate and, just to prove that point, here’s one I prepared earlier….

Artichoke-Kale-bouquet
Artichoke-Kale-bouquet

 

Gorgeous.  And functional.  If you get a little peckish…pull off a leaf and have a nibble.  Win. Win.

So, when I say they are unattractive, what I really mean is that they are hard work.

Imagine trying to explain the artichoke to someone from another planet…

“Well you’ve got to trim off the leaf tops with scissors, then brush them with lemon so they don’t go brown”

Yeah but if you didn’t cut them, you wouldn’t have to…

“Never mind about that.  Then you have to scrape out the choke…

Scrape out the what?

“The choke…it’s kind of a hairy bit at the bottom…”

It has a hairy bottom? And you EAT this?

Uh Huh.

Removing the Choke
Removing the choke

Why’s it called a choke?

Not sure but if you don’t remove it all sometimes the fuzz can get caught in your throat and apparently it can be very painful.

Oh my God.  This hairy bottom vegetable wants to kill you. You humans are bonkers.  Anyone else would run a mile from this thing…There’s no way I”m eating that.  Might come in handy as a weapon though…

Ok, so I”ll just dip these deliciious leaves in melted butter and eat them myself shall I?

What?

That’s a traditional way of eating them.  You dip them in melted butter and then you drag ’em through your teeth…

Melted butter you say? Ok, I’m in.

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/artichokes-parmesan-butter-sauce

Why aren’t more foods dipped in melted butter?   As far as I can ascertain the only things that are regularly dipped in butter are artichokes and lobsters both which are pretty good anyway. Why aren’t we doing this with some of the revolting  stuff (beetroot springs to mind) to make it taste better?  I guarantee more people would like Brussels Sprouts if they came liberally doused in melted butter.  Just saying.

Anyway I digress.  You know what is also good?  Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens…but a few more of my favourite things are mayonnaise, lamb and capers.

And all of these delicious things can be found in the Nancy Spain recipe for Water Lily Lamb Salad.  And this time, I really did prepare one earlier….

 

Water Lily Lamb Salad 2
Water Lily Lamb Salad 2

Apart from the cutest name ever, the Water Lily Lamb Salads are pretty damn good and would make a great starter for a springtime lunch.  It’s such a lovely way to present the meal as well…albeit, I cooked my artichokes for the full 25 minutes as recommended by Nancy and they kind of fell apart, hence my slightly awry water lillies in the photos!  Tasted great though.   Still, I’ll cook them a lot less next time.  You could sub in chicken for the lamb as an equally deliciious variant.  Or an egg salad would be incredible…

And, if you needed any further incentive to eat artichokes, Marilyn Monroe was crowned the Artichoke Queen Of California in 1947.  And look where it got her…

No, not dead of a barbiturate overdose  at the tender age of 36…wow, you people are cynical…

Marilyn Monroe - Artichoke Queen
Marilyn Monroe – Artichoke Queen

I”m going to be spending my week hanging around greengrocers, waiting to be crowned queen of something.

Then again…why limit myself to produce when I can crown myself

qofe

It’s your week, may as well make it awesome.

Signature 1 Vintage Valentine Quick as Wink2