Home › The World's Kitchen › French Artichokes, Poivrade
French Artichokes, Poivrade
Cut off the stalks and all stale leaves and neatly trim the under part of three medium-sized fresh French artichokes. Rub the under part of each with a quarter of a lemon to prevent getting black, cut each into half, dress on a hors d'oeuvres dish and serve with the following sauce: Place in a bowl a teaspoon French mustard, two tablespoons vinegar and three tablespoons oil. Briskly mix the whole together with a wooden spoon for two minutes. Pour in a saucebowl and serve separately.
This is a raw artichoke dish, which surprises cooks who only know the boiled globe kind. Everything depends on getting the right artichoke.
- What "poivrade" means for shoppingPoivrade generally refers to the small, slender purple-tinged artichokes of Provence, picked young enough that the choke is undeveloped and the leaves tender enough to eat raw. Note that the recipe itself calls for "medium-sized" artichokes; in practice the smaller and younger the better, and a large mature globe artichoke is a poor substitute for raw serving.
- The trimming is the whole job"Neatly trim the under part" is usually taken to mean paring the base down to the pale core with a small knife, and removing the tough outer leaves until what remains is light green. A halved artichoke that shows a developed hairy choke, or has stiff leaves, is likely too old to serve raw.
- Lemon, and whyCut artichoke oxidises within a minute or two. Rubbing with lemon slows it, but a bowl of cold water with the juice of a lemon in it is more reliable if you are working through several; keep them submerged until you dress the plate.
- French mustardThis is normally taken to mean smooth Dijon, not the bright yellow American type and not a coarse grain mustard. The recipe combines mustard, vinegar and oil all at once and relies on brisk mixing rather than gradual addition.
- The dressing ratioThree parts oil to two parts vinegar is markedly sharper than the modern three-to-one. If you find it aggressive, hold back some of the vinegar rather than adding more oil.
- Two minutes of whiskingAny vinaigrette will separate on standing. Mixing it hard just before serving, as directed, is the point; if it separates in the sauceboat, mix it again.
- Yield and servingThree artichokes cut in half gives six pieces, enough for three or four people as a starter. The sauce is served separately, so the pieces are dipped into it.
Artichauts à la poivrade is a Provençal habit rather than a formal recipe: young violet artichokes, trimmed, halved and dipped raw into salt and pepper or a sharp vinaigrette, the name generally traced to poivre, pepper, and having attached itself to the small early artichokes themselves. Commercial growing in coastal California was only beginning, largely through Italian immigrant growers, so an American reader encountering "French artichokes" would have understood them as a foreign vegetable with foreign manners. The recipe sits among hors d'oeuvres because that is where the French put it — one of a plate of small cold things served before the meal proper, requiring no cooking at all, only a good knife and a very fresh vegetable.