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Artichokes a la Vedette
Boil some globe artichokes in salted water till they are tender. Take out the center leaves, leaving an even fringe of leaves on the outside. Remove as much of the choke as you can. Put them back in a steamer. Toss some cooked peas in butter, the mix them in cream and taking up your artichokes again put in your cream and peas in the center of each, as much as you can get in. The cream is not necessary for this dish to be a good one, but the artichokes and peas must both be young. As a rule people cut their fruit too soon and their vegetables too late.
A simple stuffed-artichoke dish that depends entirely on the age of the two vegetables. Everything else is technique you already have.
- The hinge: young vegetablesThe recipe says it outright and it is the whole dish. Large, mature globe artichokes have woody outer leaves and a dense hairy choke, and shelled peas past their prime turn starchy and grey. Use small to medium artichokes and either fresh young peas or good frozen petits pois, which are picked young and blanched immediately.
- Boiling timeNo time is given. Whole globe artichokes take roughly 25-40 minutes in boiling salted water depending on size; they are done when an outer leaf pulls away with no resistance and a knife slides into the base. Keep them submerged with a plate or lid.
- Acidulate the waterNot mentioned in the original. Adding the juice of a lemon to the cooking water and rubbing cut surfaces with lemon will help keep cut edges from darkening.
- Hollowing them outWork from the top: pull out the pale inner cone of leaves in one twist, then scrape the fuzzy choke away with a teaspoon. Doing this after boiling, as directed, is much easier than before.
- "Put them back in a steamer"Most likely to hold them hot and upright while you finish the peas rather than a second cooking. A colander or sieve over an inch of simmering water, covered, does the same job; a few minutes is enough.
- The creamHeavy or double cream, warmed with the buttered peas rather than boiled hard, so it clings without splitting. The original is right that the dish stands without it; butter alone, well seasoned, works.
- Quantities and yieldNone are given. Reckon one artichoke per person as a starter and about 1/2 cup of peas and a tablespoon of butter for each, with a couple of tablespoons of cream if using.
- ServingServe warm rather than hot, as a first course. Eaters pull the outer leaves off one at a time and scrape the flesh with their teeth, so a discard bowl and finger napkins are needed.