Artichokes Braised in Olive Oil and White Wine

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

• 3 lemons
• 8 large artichokes
• 1 medium yellow onion, sliced thin
• 2 small leeks, tops trimmed and green outer leaves discarded, quartered lengthwise, cut into thin strips 2 inches long
• 2 celery stalks, trimmed, sliced thin
• 2 small carrots, peeled, sliced thin
• 2 slices bacon (optional)
• 1/2 c. extra-virgin olive oil
• kosher salt
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled
• ground black pepper
• 2 bay leaves
• 4 sprigs fresh tarragon
• 4 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1.75 c. dry white wine

Steps:

1. Combine juice of 2.5 lemons and 2 quarts of water in a large bowl. Trim each artichoke, removing stem (except 1 inch), leaves, and choke, rubbing with remaining lemon to prevent discoloring. Set the trimmed artichoke hearts aside in the lemon water.
2. Cut vegetables as above. You should have roughly equal amounts of onion, leeks, and celery.
3. If using bacon, render it for 2-3 minutes, then add 1/4 c. oil; otherwise, just heat oil over medium heat. Add onion, leeks, celery, and carrots. Season with salt, reduce heat to medium low, slowly cook, stirring occasionally, until tender but not brown, about 20 minutes. Add garlic and cook for another minute.
4. Drain artichokes and add to pot. Add a little more salt, pepper, and olive oil to coat the artichokes (about 2 tbs.), bay leaves, and half the tarragon and thyme. Mix gently, arranging artichokes in a single layer. Add wine and enough water to cover the artichokes, about 2 cups. Bring to a simmer. Partially cover the pot, reduce heat, and gently simmer until artichokes can be easily pierced with a knife, about 30 minutes.
5. Coarsely chop the remaining tarragon and thyme, add to pot, and remove from heat. Allow to cool slowly in braising liquid. To serve, garnish artichokes with aromatic vegetables and additional herbs. Serve at room temperature, chilled, or heated through.

Notes:

• Book has detailed instructions and pictures for trimming the artichokes. Conflicting information on stems: one place says trim, the other leaves 1-inch of stem. I left 1-inch, it cooked up and tasted fine.
• This is a building block for Quick Braised Striped Bass with Artichokes and Zucchini, which calls for 4 artichokes, so when I made this, I cut the recipe in half.

Keywords: Unknown, Tapas, Artichokes.