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Artichokes a l'Italienne
Well wash, trim, and quarter the artichokes, and boil them in salt and water until tender.
Remove the chokes, drain thoroughly, and arrange them on a dish with the leaves outwards, and intersperse them with watercresses. Pour good white sauce, flavored with stewed mushrooms, over them. Time to boil the artichokes, half an hour.
A straightforward globe artichoke dish whose success rests entirely on trimming and on the sauce. The original assumes you know how to handle a whole artichoke and how to make a bechamel-style white sauce from scratch.
- Which artichokeThis means the globe artichoke, not the Jerusalem artichoke, which is a tuber and would make no sense of the leaves or the choke. Buy heads that feel heavy and squeak faintly when squeezed.
- Trimming orderSnap off the tough outer leaves, cut an inch or more from the top, and pare the stem end. Rub or drop the cut surfaces into acidulated water at once, or they blacken before they reach the pot.
- The choke, before or afterThe recipe removes the fuzzy choke after boiling, which is easier on quartered heads and keeps them intact in the pan. Scrape it out with a teaspoon along with the small purplish inner leaves.
- Boiling timeHalf an hour suits large mature heads; medium quarters are usually tender in 15 to 20 minutes. Test by piercing the base of a quarter, not a leaf.
- Acid in the waterAdd a squeeze of lemon or a splash of vinegar to the salted water. Artichokes discolour badly in plain water and in reactive aluminium or cast iron pans.
- Drain hardWaterlogged artichokes will thin the sauce into a grey puddle. Turn the quarters cut side down on a cloth for several minutes before plating.
- The white sauceA standard roux-based white sauce, about 1 oz butter to 1 oz flour to a half pint of milk, finished with the liquid and chopped flesh of mushrooms stewed in butter. Season firmly; artichokes are assertive and a bland sauce disappears.
- WatercressInterspersed raw as garnish, not cooked. It goes limp under hot sauce; the original pours the sauce over the whole arrangement, but you may prefer to lay the cress around the edge of the dish instead.
- YieldNot stated in the original. Two large artichokes would serve about four as a first course or side. Serve promptly and warm, the way the arrangement implies.