Free Cooking Recipes

Artichoke hearts are the tender, fleshy bases of artichokes. They make a delicious but rather expensive hors d’oeuvre. They may be stuffed with mushrooms, spinach, patj or sausage meat mixed with chopped onions. As a vegetable course for a dinner or lunch party, they may be braised with butter or served with a Mornay or Hollandaise sauce. Artichoke hearts may be prepared and cooked one or two days in advance of serving.

To prevent discoloring, drop each trimmed heart into a bowl of acidulated water in a proportion of 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar to 1% pints of water.

4 SERVINGS
12 large artichokes
2 pints [5 cups] water containing
3 tablespoons
1/2 lemon juice lemon
2 oz. [1/2 cup] flour
3 pints [71/2 cups] cold water
4 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons salt

Directions:

1. Hold cach artichoke and bend the leaves back until they snap off. Continue until you reach the inside leaves which have begun to fold inwards.
2. With a sharp knife, cut off the stalks of the artichokes.
3. Place each artichoke on its side and slice off the remaining leaves just above the heart. Rub the cut parts of. the artichoke well with lemon juice. Rotating the base of the artichoke against the knife blade, trim the base of all pieces of green to expose the whitish surface of the heart. As each heart is trimmed, drop it into the bowl of acidulated water.
4. Put the flour in a medium-sized saucepan and stir in 2 tablespoons of water to make a smooth paste. Stir in the rest of the water, the lemon juice and the salt. Bring it to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes.
5. Add the artichoke hearts. Bring the liquid to the boil, then simmer for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the hearts arc tender when pierced with a knife. Make sure that the liquid covers the artichoke hearts all the time they are cooking, adding water if necessary.
6. Drain the hearts and serve with melted butter, or use any of the following recipes for artichoke hearts.