Don’t Get Choked Up!
The day after this week’s Berkshire Eagle column appeared in the paper, I got a message from a friend that she had already made it! I love hearing when someone has tried one of my recipes, and it seems this one was a success for her!
While I love artichokes, I’m kind of lazy when it comes to prepping them, so think of this recipe as an easy way to enjoy the flavor without so much work.
OKEY DOKEY ARTICHOKEY
by Elizabeth Baer
When I was a child, there were plenty of foods I didn’t eat. In and of itself, this probably is not surprising, and I’m fairly certain many, if not most, people could say the same, whether it was due to foods not typically fed to a child in one’s culture, or a picky childhood palate. I was a one of those picky eaters, and I remember a particularly fraught episode at a fast-food restaurant – a rare treat for us as kids – when they did not omit the tomato (as my sister and I had requested) and our father told us just to eat the burgers anyway.
Thankfully I have long since outgrown that, and even as an adult my tastes have changed and I now enjoy foods that I used to avoid not too long ago, such as olives and fennel, to name just a couple.
But there is another reason why I didn’t eat certain foods as a child. Some things were my parents’ favorites or, perhaps it was thought these delicacies would be wasted on a mere child. As a kid I never got to eat a chicken wing. They were my mother’s favorite part of the bird, and she claimed them for herself. Whenever Nena, our maternal grandmother, an excellent cook, made a standing rib roast, any and all bones were reserved for our father who would spend an inordinate amount of time gnawing away to savor every shred of meat that he could. To this day, I relish the chance to have both of these, probably as a visceral, gustatory memory of my parents.
Occasionally Nena made artichokes, and that was another thing I never ate as a child. She only made enough for the adults, and I remember my parents patiently pulling off the leaves. Mom would take one leaf at a time, dip it in melted butter, and pull it between her teeth scraping off the edible portion on each one, until reaching the prize of the artichoke heart. Dad, on the other hand, much to Mom’s chagrin, would put several butter-coated leaves into his mouth at once, chew them thoroughly to get every edible bit, and then spit out the wad of mangled leaves.
Once I got to try them, I learned how much I love artichokes. But I don’t love prepping them for cooking. To have a whole boiled artichoke with melted butter is not terribly complicated, but breaking down whole artichokes to use in other dishes is more work than I like. Thankfully frozen or canned artichoke hearts work beautifully in this pasta dish to save me all that effort!
ROASTED ARTICHOKE PASTA
Serves 2, can be doubled
INGREDIENTS:
12-14 ounces artichoke hearts, frozen or canned in water
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
½ teaspoon kosher salt
Few grinds fresh pepper
⅛ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, optional
8 ounces pasta
2 tablespoon capers, drained
2 tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon juice
6 tablespoons heavy cream
Zest of ½ lemon
Grated Parmesan for serving
DIRECTIONS:
Place a colander in the sink or in a larger bowl, and place the artichoke hearts in the colander to defrost (if frozen) and to drain. Leave for a few hours. Gently blot to remove more liquid, and cut into quarters if not packaged that way.
Preheat oven to 425°F and line a half sheet pan with parchment paper. (Parchment paper absorbs some of the moisture better than foil.) Place the artichoke hearts on the parchment, and drizzle over with 2 tablespoons of oil, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes, if using. Toss to combine, and then arrange so the pieces are spaced out. Roast for 25-30 minutes until the edges are getting brown. Remove from oven and set aside.
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. If the pasta takes more than 5 minutes according to package directions, start the pasta.
When about 5 minutes remain for the pasta (or before you add the pasta if it takes less than 5 minutes), heat the remaining oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the capers and the roasted artichokes and sauté for a couple minutes. Add the lemon juice and cook for about 30 seconds. Add the cream and the lemon zest.
When the pasta is al dente, move the pasta pot right next to the sauté pan. Remove the pasta directly from the water into the sauté pan, using tongs for a strand pasta, or a spider or strainer for a shape. It is important that some water cling to the pasta as that helps build the sauce. Stir to combine, and if it seems dry, add a few tablespoons of pasta water.
Serve immediately with grated Parmesan.