If You Gonna Fry

A couple of weeks ago, a friend dropped off a box of treasure: baby artichokes! She wondered what I would do with them, and I wondered too. Honestly, I don't mess with artichokes very often. I think the frozen hearts you can buy have a wonderful green flavor and are perfect for most dishes. I will use the canned ones as well in recipes like my artichoke dip and they work perfectly.

But baby artichokes? Okay, lest you call the People for the Ethical Treatment of Vegetables on me, these are not real baby artichokes that are raised in crates and only fed milk. These are the smaller globes which appear around the base of the plant. In addition to being smaller in size and more delicate, they don't have a choke and are completely edible. What does completely edible mean? Once you get off the tough outer leaves, you can enjoy all of what's left!

So, what to do with the 'baby' artichokes? I did some research and the most common preparation is to fry them. Simple, easy and delicious. So, that's exactly what I did. Since lemon goes so nicely with artichokes, I created a lemon salt to finish them by combining lemon zest and coarse Kosher salt.

But, fry one thing? For me, frying is a big deal. I don't do it very often because, although delicious, cleaning up after frying is a pain. What do you do with oil? How do you keep you entire house from smelling like McDonald's? So, if I am going to fill a pan (my grandmother's cast iron that she used for frying chicken) with oil and go to all of the trouble of frying, I am going to be frying more than one thing.

Arancini! Qu'est-ce que c'est what?

Arancini are one of my favorite things to make and to eat. What are they? Small balls of leftover risotto that can be stuffed with a variety of things (or left plain), rolled in breadcrumbs and fried. Arancini is from the Sicilian dialect and means 'little orange' for the shape and color of the balls after they are fried. People always say, 'risotto has to be eaten hot off of the stove,' or, 'risotto isn't good leftover.' They're crazy and wrong. While I love risotto, I must admit that my primary motivation is to have enough leftovers to make the arancini.

So, I made a big Italian meal for friends:

Fried baby artichokes (recipe from Giada is here)
Arancini
Olives and other pickly things
Grissini

Dama Bianca

Gratineed gnocchi
Roasted winter squash with balsamic reduction

Panna cotta with pomegranate molasses and seeds
(I'm working on perfecting this recipe and will have for you very soon!)

It was very yummy and we had a fun (and fried!) evening!

Recipe: Artichoke Tartlets aka Death Tarts

Every spring the Alliance of the Swope Art Museum throws a wonderful cocktail party to raise money for the Swope. They sell raffle tickets for three works of art by local artist and then announce the winners after everyone is sated by a huge buffet of homemade delicacies. This was my first time to attend the event and it was a lot of fun: the Alliance raised some money; everyone socialized and had some great treats; and three people went away with some very cool art.

The right tools help: I love cooking spray with flour for baked goods; the rolling pin my mother gave me for Christmas a couple of years ago with guards that help you get the dough to the correct thickness; my tart tamper; and high quality circle cutters.

The Alliance members all sign up to "bring a double recipe of a sweet or savory on a disposable serving piece, ready to serve." My friend Kathy brough a pesto torte, with layers of cheese, pesto and sun-dried tomatoes served as an impressive tower of power. I personally saw four people ask her for the recipe and once I have it in my clutches, you will have it as well. I wanted to pitch in too, so I made one of my favorites, Artichoke Tartlets. No one asked for the recipe, but I'm giving it to you here anyways. Make it and tell me how much you love it. Or, lie to me and tell me you made it and how much you love it.

Recipe: Artichoke Tartlets aka Death Tarts*

This recipe uses a wonderful dough I developed from a couple of sources and my favorite artichoke spread. The cream cheese makes the pastry easy to work with and extra delicious. I posted the recipe for the spread not long ago, but for this use I puree it a little more so it smoother and easier to get into the shells. The trick: make the spread and put it in a large Ziplock bag and chill in the refrigerator. When you're ready to fill the tartlets, snip off a corner of the bag and just pipe the artichoke deliciousness right in. Best thing, these can be made the night before and chilled, then put right into the oven so you can serve them fresh and warm to your guests.

For the crust:
4 ounces of chilled cream cheese, cut into four large cubes
6 ounces of chilled butter, cut in tablespoon size pieces
Pinch of salt
1 cup of flour
2-4 tsp of ice water

For the filling:
This recipe, pureed a little smoother.

In a food processor, combine the cream cheese, butter, salt and flour using the pulse feature until pearl-sized pieces are formed. Alternating, you can use a pastry knife or two knives together to cut the cream cheese and butter into the flour, but it will take a lot longer.

With the machine running, add 1 tsp of ice water until the dough pulls together. Remove from the processor and form into a small disc, chill for thirty minutes or longer.

When ready, roll the sough to 1/8 inch thickness and cut out 24 two or two-and-a-quarter-inch circles. Place these on top of a mini-muffin tin and press into the tin using your hands or a tart tamper. Fill with Parmesan spread and chill for 15 to 20 minutes. You can top each tartlet with an extra sprinkling of cheese if you wish.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and bake the tartlets for twenty to twenty-five minutes, until golden brown.

Makes 24.

*The new nickname for these little guys comes from the Alliance and a reference to Star Wars. It's not that funny, but I had to include it for those people who will get the joke.

Recipe: Best Artichoke Dip

Recipe: Best Artichoke Dip
There are a million and one artichoke dips out there, but this is the recipe I created and have used for a long time. It's the perfect spring appetizer, with the splash of lemon and lovely artichokes. You can serve it with any of your favorite dippers like toasted French bread, celery sticks, assorted crackers and probably even Fritos.

1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 1/2 cups grated Parmesan cheese (there aren't many ingredients here, so use the best you can find), 2 tbsp reserved
2 cloves minced garlic
1 pinch of cayenne
Zest and juice of one medium to large lemon
Salt and white pepper to taste
1 12 oz bag of frozen artichokes hearts cooked according to package directions and cooled under running water or one 16 oz can of artichoke hearts in water, drained and rinsed

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a food processor, combine the first six ingredients and run the processor for a moment to combine. Add half of the artichokes and process until beginning to turn into a smooth spread. Add the other half of the artichokes, and pulse until they are combined and coarsely chopped. This gives you a dip that is smooth, but still has a little bit of texture to it.

Transfer the dip to a cute, Pyrex casserole lightly coated with olive oil. The recipe doesn't turn out right if you skip this step, so if you don't have one be sure and stop into Goodwill before you start. Top with the reserved Parmesan cheese. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until warmed through and nice and bubbly on top. Serve warm.

This spread also makes a delicious filling for little tartlets to serve as a slightly fancier appetizer. I'll provide directions for those for you soon.

Mangez!