I work in the city of São Roque, a region that produces 80% of the artichokes consumed in the country, “so”, I can buy this beauty for as little as 1 real each. I immediately bought half a dozen (exaggerated as always, considering that my husband doesn’t even like them).
Well, I know that there are people familiar with artichokes, but I also know that there are a lot of people who are excited about Zeca Pagodinho: “I’ve never seen it, nor eaten it, I only hear about it” (friends from Portugal: this is a song). So I’m going to show you the simplest way to prepare and consume the little animals:
Cut the stem very close to the base. Wash well. Cut off the tips of the petals (I have no idea why, but that’s how it is). Place in a large pan with boiling water and salt. The water doesn’t need to cover the artichoke, if it reaches 2/3 of it it’s fine. Pull a petal from the middle, when it comes out easily, it is cooked.
Make a vinaigrette or sauce of your choice (I used dehydrated vinaigrette, lemon, salt, olive oil and a little water). To eat, you pull the petals from the outside to the inside….
Dipping into the vinaigrette and scraping off with your teeth just that little fleshy tip (just that “miserable” same).
When the petals are finished, you will reach the core, which is very prickly.
Use a spoon to remove the thorns…
Finally we reached the noble part, the “bottom of the artichoke” that I, with my pachyderm subtlety, broke. This is used to prepare many dishes, but that’s a topic for another post!
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