Since this has come up a few times recently, I thought I would post up about it in here.
I recently culled the bottom four leaves from my monstrous artichoke plant. I stripped off the leafy bits, and tossed them in the compost bin. Previously, I have saved them, and soaked them in grain alcohol, to make an extract that is good for your cholesterol.
The ribs, I washed, peeled, and cut into one inch pieces:
Then simmered the pieces in salted water for about 10-15 minutes. Just until they are tender, but still have a little crunch.
They are delicious - a bit like hazelnut, slightly floral, and a touch salty from the cooking. I haven't decided what to do with them yet, but I imagine that would make a nice addition to a tuna, egg, or waldorf salad.
In the past, I have added them to stirfries, as a stand in for water chestnuts.
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Grrlscout, have a question about using the 'parings' for making broth. I did and it was till quite bitter and not usable after over 30 minutes of simmering. I did 'double down' with some of the liquid by using the water I boiled the ribs in, so that might be part of the problem. Elsewhere, and I don't remember if it was you, the broth idea was to use all that 'waste' from paring the artichokes etc. to make a broth that could be used as a base for vegetable soup - like cream of asparagus. Any thoughts?
FYI this year I vowed to catch my artichokes small to boil and marinate and so far that is working really well, so I have parings plus the leafy parts from the ribs and really would like to make use of the debris before tossing in the compost. Thanks for thoughts!
It was not I! :c )
To get rid of the fiberous part I think you might be able to destring it like you would celery. I don't know how to state it clearly but you snap the stalks in half by hand. This will loosen up a clump of strings and you can just pull them out.
I was googling how to make artichokes less bitter and LOL I did found that you should not drink red wine with artichokes because it's makes the artichokes tastes terrible.
So, I tried this, and it was a sucess for me too! I think I harvested 5 artichoke leaves out of the many I pruned off the bottom part of my plants because they were shading out some of my okra...I followed the directions given here and cleaned, sliced and boiled them in salt water...I think for about 20 minutes. They tasted strongly of artichoke hearts for me. The texture was still a bit stringy and tough, but that may have been remedied by longer cooking time. I cooled the cooked artichoke ribs and put them in ziplock bags and stored them in my crisper, as I had to go to work and didn't have time to use them right away.
Last night, I decided I would try to make a spinach artichoke dip with them. Of course, I have only a tiny bit of spinach growing, but mountains of swiss chard, so I made a chard/artichoke rib dip...I am calling it Chardichoke dip....It was fantastic!!!!!!
That looks delicious - and I love the name!
Did you peel them too? I go at them pretty hard with a potato peeler, reducing their size by about a third, by the time I'm done.
I did not peel mine - but dicing them probably made a big difference in non-string issue. Karis the dip looks great - I can't wait to try more things with the dice and I'm going to try the broth with the 'parings' in the next couple of days.
I didn't peel mine either, except where there was some discoloration on the outer leaf. I tried eating it raw and it wasn't bitter at all, but it was fibrous which the cooking resolved. I added it to a Mexican-style dinner that night and my husband thought it was celery.
I made a cold dip with Swiss chard and artichoke ribs that was delish. I added onion, parsley, hot sauce, Parmesan cheese, mayo and sour cream and blended in a food processor. I think it would also be good mixed with some sun-dried tomatoes and served with pasta.
Oh, a nice past primevera - I also serve crunchy things over chili so the ribs would be good with the onions etc.
Nope I didn't peel them, just sliced the leaf away with a knife. I could have peeled them, but they were quite hollow inside, not sure I would have had anything left.
After I baked the dip, the artichoke ribs were soft and the texture was undetectable...I think with enough cooking, they soften up. I'm sure peeling makes sense when you are going to serve them al dente.
Just for disclaimer sake, this is not what I would consider a "health food." It is, however, home made and wholesome. If you are sensitive to dairy, this is not the recipe for you since it contains sour cream, cream cheese, parmesan, italian cheese blend and mayo.
I weigh myself every morning, and I kid you not, I was 4 lbs heavier this morning. I am 5'10 and I can fluctuate a lot without seeing any difference in how my clothes fit, but honestly...who gains 4 lbs in one day!?!
All I can think of is all the salty cheese in this leads to water retention. It probably doesn't help that I am eating some leftovers today for lunch!
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