Artichokes are fresh. How to cook them at home? Artichoke - a product that requires compliance with special cooking rules

If you have never eaten artichokes, it is possible that you do not know what to do with them and do not know how to cook them. Artichokes should not be eaten raw like regular vegetables, artichoke leaves are hard, fibrous with sharp edges. You can easily injure the digestive system. But if artichokes cook and eaten right, it can be a delicious, healthy and unusual addition to any meal. Several recipes with artichokes

Step by step recipe

Use a knife or scissors to cut off the sharp ends of the artichoke leaves. This is optional, but it will be much easier to process them in the future.

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Boil the artichokes in water with salt or steam for 20-45 minutes until they are soft. The pot during the cooking process should not be covered with a lid, since the acid contained in the artichokes will not be able to evaporate, and they will turn black, you can add lemon juice to the water. Artichokes can also be microwaved, wrapped one at a time in a plastic bag, for 8-15 minutes, or boiled in a pressure cooker for 20 minutes. Readiness is determined very easily. If the leaf comes off easily, the artichokes are ready.

Pluck the outer leaves one at a time, the edible part of the vegetable should resemble a potato in shape. It is lighter in color and is located at the base of the leaves, in the core.

Serve boiled artichokes with the sauces you have on hand. Here are some of the most common sauces:

• Mayonnaise (add some balsamic vinegar or soy sauce)
• A mixture of garlic and butter
• A mixture of olive oil, salt and vinegar
• Melted butter

How to eat artichokes: Finely chop or cut the tender pieces of the lower part of the leaf, the fibrous and lignified part of the leaf is inedible. Continue peeling the outer leaves down to the core with small central leaves that are not as fleshy. They are slightly different from the outer leaves, often they are slightly transparent with a purple tint.

The central leaves are the tastiest part of the artichoke. Depending on how well it's cooked, sometimes the smallest inner leaves can be removed. Dip the leaves in the sauce and enjoy. These leaves cover the thin and fibrous heart of the artichoke.
Carefully remove the fibers from the middle with a fork or the serrated tip of a kitchen knife, get to the core. This is a very important point, many without the appropriate instructions are mistaken.

That's it, you are lucky, appoint a banquet, the artichoke core, the most excellent part of the vegetable and - often only it, is used by haute cuisine chefs, but you can also enjoy whole artichokes.

Several recipes for boiled artichokes

boiled artichokes

Ingredients:
Artichokes, lemon, laurel, parsley, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Peel the artichokes and cut into quarters. Sprinkle them with lemon juice. Boil them for 10-15 minutes, adding lavrushka and peppercorns to the water. When these vegetables are ready, drain the water and put them on a plate. Drizzle some more lemon juice, olive oil and sprinkle parsley on top. A little salt and pepper and you're done!

Breaded artichokes
Ingredients:

Artichokes, egg, flour, salt and ground pepper.
Boil artichokes for a few minutes. Then beat the egg and cook the flour in a separate cup. Once the artichokes are cooked, drain well. Dip in beaten egg and roll in flour, fry in a pan with oil.

Artichokes in marinade

Ingredients:
Artichokes, 1 shallot, 1 cup white wine, 1/2 cup vinegar, 1/2 cup water, salt and ground black pepper.

Boil artichokes. Simultaneously fry the chopped shallots, with the addition of olive oil. Add in onions, white wine and then vinegar, water, a little salt and a little pepper. Cook 10 min.
When the artichokes are cooked, put them in a cup, pour this marinade on top. Cool down. Serve with roasted pine nuts.

Sweet and sour artichokes

Ingredients:
Artichokes, 4 shallots, salt, pepper, apple cider vinegar and sugar.

Cook artichokes.
Fry 4 shallots, finely chopped with olive oil. When the artichokes are cooked, simmer them for a few minutes in a frying pan. Salt, pepper, add a spoonful of sugar and 1 spoonful of apple cider vinegar. Cover and cook for another 5 minutes.

Oven Artichoke Recipe

Ingredients:
Artichokes, salt, ground black pepper, garlic, vegetable oil and vinegar.

This is the easiest of the recipes besides to cook artichokes in this recipe you should remove the leaves, but not too much, cut off the stem. Grease an ovenproof baking sheet and place the artichokes stem side down. Pour a trickle of oil on top, a little salt and sprinkle with chopped garlic. Cook in the oven for 45 min. While serving, drizzle them lightly with vinegar or lemon juice. Video how to cook artichokes.

The artichoke, the recipes for which we will describe today, is a herbaceous perennial plant belonging to the Aster family, genus Cynara. The main distribution area covers the Canary Islands and the Mediterranean (more than 10 plant species grow in this zone).

Selection and storage rules

Before you start cooking, you need to select a product. It should be fresh fruits with tightly fitting leaves. Take the artichoke in your hands - when ripe, it should be quite heavy and hard when pressed, otherwise it is considered that the buds are not fresh and stale. Also pay attention to the color - it should be even and not contain brown spots. The question immediately arises, what artichoke tastes like. It is somewhat reminiscent of a walnut, only with a certain spicy aftertaste.

The size of the selected fruits is not important, but remember that during preparation, their diameter is significantly reduced, therefore, to prepare the dish, you need to take the weight of the product twice as much as necessary.

Store artichokes for a week in a cold place, previously placed in a bag. Boiled fruits should either be eaten immediately or frozen, otherwise they will acquire a black tint and a bitter taste.

Culinary masterpieces

Of all the variety, only two species are used for food: sowing (otherwise it is called prickly Cynara scolumis), as well as cardon (known as the Spanish artichoke Cynara cardunculus). In the first representative, only fleshy receptacles are suitable for food, i.e. the bottom (the base of the bud), the second has fleshy petioles of basal leaves. According to artichoke recipes, a lot of delicious dishes are prepared: salads, hot and cold, pizzas, pies, pastas and even bakery products.

Pickled artichoke

Pickled artichokes are not only a healthy product, but also very tasty. True, the preparation of fruits requires preliminary preparation, otherwise it will be impossible to eat them.

To pickle four medium-sized fruits, you need 2 lemons, 3 liters of water, and spices. As the latter is taken: 3 sprigs of fresh parsley, a couple of cloves of garlic, 0.3 l of olive oil, salt and pepper according to preferences and balsamic vinegar in the amount of 2 tbsp. l.

So, consider how to cook an artichoke in a marinade:

Pickled artichokes can be used as a cold appetizer, or go to other dishes. For example, very tasty salads with artichokes are prepared from them.

During cooking, you can take your set of spices, for example, thyme, cloves, bay leaves, cinnamon, hot peppers, as well as any other vegetable oil.

Stuffed artichokes

Want to add a little exotic to your diet? Prepare a hearty, juicy and incredibly tasty artichoke dish - stuff them.

For cooking, take the ratio of 6 buds and ground beef 0.3 kg. Additionally, you will need one lemon, 6 potato tubers, 3 tbsp. l. lemon juice, the same amount of olive or any other vegetable oil, a bunch of fresh parsley, spices and salt according to preference:

If you don't have a pressure cooker, you can use a thick-bottomed pot or deep frying pan.

Video recipe for cooking artichokes in a pan

Pasta with artichokes, spinach and cheese

Due to the perfect combination of products, the dish turns out incredibly tasty and satisfying. In addition, it is suitable not only for a family dinner, but also for guests.

To prepare this artichoke recipe, you will need 2 cups of pasta, ½ cup canned and already chopped artichokes. In the same amount of fresh chopped onions and spinach. You will also need 3 garlic cloves, 0.5 tsp. garlic salt, a glass of cream, 2 tbsp. l. cornstarch, salt and pepper to taste. From cheeses, grated Swiss cheese, parmesan and mozzarella are used in the amount of 1 tbsp: ¼ tbsp.: 2 tbsp. respectively. The dish also uses 225 g of cream cheese.

Cooking process:

The finished dish is served hot, both whole and cut into portions.

Artichokes in Marchijian style - video

As you can see, the recipes for making artichokes are simple, you just need to properly prepare the fruits. With effort, you will get a lot of delicious dishes that will always be present on your table.

How to clean and cook artichokes - video

Artichokes play a big role in Italian cuisine, but in our area this plant is mostly treated with distrust. Many have come across artichokes on the shelves in supermarkets or on the pages of magazines. I suggest you find out what is the use of this plant and how to eat it correctly.

Residents of the Nordic countries rarely show a desire to cook an artichoke on their own at home. Some are confused by the appearance of his plant, others simply do not know which side to get close to him. However, this exotic vegetable for our country deserves the attention of housewives due to its benefits and unique taste in combination with many products.

What does an artichoke look like?

In nature, the artichoke looks like a huge weed. Its height can reach 2m.

The appearance of artichoke fruits can be called unattractive. They resemble thistles or hop cones.

The appearance of a vegetable can be different: oblong or round, green or purple fruits, with and without thorns - these differences are explained by the variety of varieties. According to various sources, there are from 95 to 135 artichoke species in the world.

Interestingly, despite the abundance of varieties, the artichoke in many countries is considered just a weed. In fact, only 2 types are often eaten - cardon and sowing artichoke.

It is very important when buying a "vegetable" to pay attention to the degree of its maturity. Only young green plants are suitable for eating, the size of which can range from the diameter of a walnut to the size of a small orange.

Important: If the upper leaves have dried up and opened up, and a reddish fluff is visible between them, refrain from buying - the older the artichoke, the less suitable it is for eating.

Artichoke: useful properties and contraindications

• Due to the content of inulin (a polysaccharide that is broken down in the body to fructose) in the artichoke, it is useful for diabetes.
• The content of potassium and sodium in the plant makes it useful for people with high acidity of gastric juice. In addition, potassium helps to cope with puffiness.
• The benefits of artichoke are manifested in lowering cholesterol levels in the body
• It is also worth noting the anti-inflammatory and choleretic effect of the artichoke.
• Tonic action
• Help with urolithiasis
• Antioxidant
• A good remedy for colds and viral diseases
• Useful for anemia due to iron content
• Cynarin in artichoke improves cerebral circulation

Contraindications

• Gastritis
• Decreased acidity of the stomach
• Low blood pressure
• Liver failure
• Pregnancy
• Lactation
• Age up to 12 years
• Cholelithiasis

What vitamins does an artichoke contain?

Water is the main ingredient in the artichoke. Its content in the artichoke reaches 85%. The plant, in addition to the high content of proteins and fiber, is rich in vitamins of different groups:

• Group B - thiamine - riboflavin, niacin, etc.
• Vitamin C - ascorbic acid
• Vitamin E - tocopherol
• Vitamin K

What vitamins are contained in the artichoke. The benefits of artichokes

Health benefits of artichoke tea

Interesting: In Vietnam, the use of dried artichoke tea is widespread.

• Add to your regular tea 1/4 tsp. artichoke - with increased acidity or inflammatory processes of the digestive tract
• Has a laxative effect
• It has a mild diuretic effect. The peculiarity of artichoke tea is that it does not remove potassium and sodium from the body, but is their source, unlike other diuretics.
• Helps normalize and improve metabolism
• Prevents infections of internal organs
• Reduces damage from alcohol intoxication
• Helps reduce blood sugar levels
• Good Antioxidant
• Has anti-cancer activity

You can buy artichoke tea in bags or buy it as a dried herb. Use 1 sachet or 1.5 tsp per glass of boiling water. dry leaves. Let the tea brew for 5-7 minutes and drink before meals. If you use tea for preventive purposes or for general health, drink it 1 time per day, as a medicinal plant - 3 times a day before meals.

A spoonful of honey will help to brighten up the bitter taste.

How do you eat artichokes, with what?

Artichokes are valued for their versatility of taste, as they go well with any food. There is no cooking problem in cooking artichokes.

You can add this plant to salads, bake a pie, combine with meat and fish as a side dish. Feel free to experiment by creating your own unique recipes.

The peculiarity of artichokes is that they can be eaten at any stage of maturity. However, cook them in different ways: for example, use young artichokes raw, preserve or pickle medium-ripe inflorescences, and mature ones can be boiled or stewed.

For example, you can even cook artichokes as a dish on their own:

• You will need young artichokes, butter, garlic, salt and pepper
• Rinse the artichokes under running water, remove the top leaves
• Put the oil cut into thin slices between the leaves of the inflorescence
• Add in the same way, between the leaves, garlic, salt and pepper
• Steam for 15-20 minutes

Important: Do not use ripe artichokes that have already opened for cooking - they acquire a strong bad taste that interrupts even the overall taste of the dish.

Artichoke bottoms: appetizers

Clean the artichokes before cooking.

• Cut off the leg
• Remove top leaves
• Cut good leaves on top of your finger
• Rinse under running water or in water with the juice of one lemon
• If you cook artichokes, throw them into boiling water, after salting it and adding lemon juice. Check for doneness with a fork
• If you are only using the bottom of the artichoke - Scoop it out with a teaspoon to remove the fluff

Important: Put the peeled artichokes in water with lemon juice or sprinkle slices with lemon juice, otherwise the inflorescences will darken.

stuffed bottoms

• You will need: 8 ripe artichokes, 500g minced meat, 1 onion, 2 eggs, 2 cups breadcrumbs, spices - salt, black pepper, red pepper, cumin, greens - dill or parsley
  For the sauce: 2 onions, a head of garlic, celery, 2 carrots, bell peppers, 300 ml of water, salt, pepper, turmeric, 1 tbsp starch, bay leaf, allspice peas.
  For frying: olive oil, eggs and flour
• Prepare the bottoms of the artichoke and put in water with lemon, finely chop the onion
• Make the sauce: finely chop the onion, rub the garlic on a fine grater, cut the carrots into strips or cubes, chop the celery and sweet pepper as finely as possible.
  Sauté the onion a little, add the garlic and vegetables, turmeric for a yellowish tint, and pour in the water. Stew a little and add salt, black pepper, allspice, bay leaf. At the end, thicken everything with starch
• Make minced meat, beef is best. Pass the meat along with the onion through a meat grinder, add the egg, spices and crackers
• Stuff the bottoms with minced meat until you get the shape of a ball
• Dip artichokes in egg and flour and place in a pan with plenty of hot olive oil (deep-fried)
• Put the fried bottoms on a baking sheet and simmer in the sauce. Put in the oven for 40 minutes at 160°
• Ready yul.da you can sprinkle with dill or parsley

Artichokes baked with eggs

• You will need: 2 artichokes, 2 eggs, carrots, turnips, bean pods, asparagus (total 150g vegetables), canned green peas, 125g milk sauce, 8g hard cheese, 15g butter
• Dice turnips and carrots and lightly fry
• Cut asparagus and beans and boil in salted water
• Mix cooked vegetables with green peas
• Drizzle vegetable mixture with milk sauce
• Boil the bottoms of the artichokes, stuff with vegetable mixture
• Put soft-boiled eggs on top.
• Grate hard cheese, pour milk sauce
• Bake until ready

Artichoke pie

Basically, pickled artichokes are needed for pies. Buy them ready-made or make your own.

• You will need (for 3 servings): 4 large artichokes, 2 lemons, 2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar, garlic clove, olive oil, salt, black pepper (preferably freshly ground), a couple of sprigs of parsley
• Peel the artichokes and boil in water acidified with lemon juice for 30-40 minutes, until soft
• Cut the artichokes in half
• Prepare the dressing with the rest of the ingredients
• Season the artichoke and let stand in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours

Pie with cherry tomatoes and feta

• You will need: for the breeze dough - 150g flour, 75g low-fat yogurt, 2 tbsp. margarine, 1 tsp salt.
  For the pie - 150g marinated artichokes, 200ml cream, 150g feta, 4 chicken eggs, 20 cherry tomatoes, salt, pepper
• Start making the pie by preparing the dough. Mix salt and flour
• Add margarine and yogurt, mix well
• Put the dough in the refrigerator for 1-1.5 hours
• Cut the artichokes into 4 pieces
• Crumble the Feta
• Cut the tomatoes in half
• Whip eggs with cream
• Add artichokes, tomatoes and feta to the resulting mass, salt and pepper
• Put the dough into the form, put the mixture on top
• Bake in the oven for 25 minutes at 200°

• You will need: 540g puff pastry, 80ml cream, 120g feta, 1 egg, 2 tbsp. olive oil, salt, pepper, wheat flour
• cut the artichokes
• Crumble the Feta
• Mix feta and cream in a blender, add salt and pepper to taste
• Roll out the dough and place on baking paper
• Spread the filling on top, artichokes on top of it
• Beat the egg and brush around the edges of the dough
• Bake 15 minutes at 220°, then 20-25 minutes at 190°

• You will need: 1 shallot and 1 red onion, 110g butter, 800g marinated artichokes, 480g ham, 240g hard cheese, 3 chicken eggs, 3 tbsp. wheat flour, 120 ml cream, 60 g parmesan, 2 puff pastry, salt, black pepper and hot red pepper
• Chop the onion and fry in butter
• Dice artichokes and ham
• Put the onion with oil in a large bowl and add the flour
• 2 eggs, beaten and pour into a bowl with onions and flour
• Grate hard cheese and parmesan on a coarse grater, pour into a bowl
• Add black pepper, red pepper and salt
• Throw in the artichokes and ham
• Pour in the cream and mix thoroughly
• Put one layer of dough into a mold, put the filling, cover with a second layer
• Pinch the edges
• Beat one egg and brush the surface
• Bake 45 minutes at 175°

Pizza with leeks and bacon

• You will need: 6 pieces of bacon, 200g marinated artichokes, 1 leek, 30ml olive oil, 300g pizza dough, 50g parmesan cheese, salt, ground black pepper, parsley
• Fry the bacon in a dry frying pan
• Fry the onion
• Lay the dough out on a baking sheet
• Place onion and chopped artichokes on top, season with salt and pepper
• Bake 10-15 minutes
• Finish with grated Parmesan and top with chopped bacon.
• You can decorate with herbs or onions

Salads with artichokes

There are many recipes for artichoke salads. Some people prefer simple salads that bring out the flavor of the plant. Others prefer culinary multicomponent masterpieces from different cuisines of the world.

Vegetable salad

• You will need artichokes, celery, tomatoes, apples, lemon juice, vegetable oil, salt, pepper
• Boil the bottoms of the artichokes and cut into cubes
• Cut celery root into strips
• Pour boiling water over the tomatoes, remove the skin (preferably the seeds), cut
• cut an apple
• Mix the ingredients, add some lemon juice, spices
• Fill with vegetable oil

Salad with egg

• You will need artichokes, eggs, mayonnaise
• Boil artichoke leaves until tender, cut
• Hard boil eggs, cut
• Mix artichokes with eggs and season with mayonnaise
• You can add some garlic

Greek artichoke salad

• You will need 8 artichokes, juice of 1 lemon, 2 tomatoes, garlic, spices (salt, pepper), 1 tsp. olive oil, herbs - optional
• Clean and cut artichokes
• Pour boiling water over the tomatoes, remove the skin and seeds, chop
• mix vegetables
• Crush garlic, mix with spices, herbs, lemon juice and olive oil
• Season the resulting mixture with vegetables and keep in the refrigerator for 1-1.5 hours

• You will need: 4 large artichokes, 1 lemon, 50 ml dry white wine, 50 ml white wine vinegar, 6 anchovy fillets in oil, 1 tbsp. capers in salt, olive oil, spices
• Peel the artichokes
• Add lemon juice, wine, salt, vinegar to cold water
• Boil the artichokes in this water for 15-20 minutes.
• Turn boiled artichokes over and dry for a day
• Finely chop artichokes, mix with capers, anchovies, olive oil
• Add pepper
• Grind the resulting mass with a blender to a puree state
• Store in the refrigerator in a tightly closed container

Important: The sauce should be oily, feel free to add more oil if needed.

artichoke calories

Artichokes are famous for their medicinal properties, while being a dietary product.

• Low calorie content - useful for obesity. Nutritional value per 100g: proteins - 4g, carbohydrates - 70g. Energy value (calorie content) per 100g: 30Kcal

Artichoke - a source of youth, video

Today we will talk about how to cook artichokes. First of all, vegetables must be pre-processed. There are several ways to cut artichokes. Often they are cooked whole, only cutting off the sharp tips of the leaves. But artichokes prepared in this way must be eaten properly, because not all of their parts are edible. The other extreme in cutting artichokes is to cut off and discard everything except the soft, juicy bottom - it is used as a "cup", which is filled with a variety of fillings. We will focus on the "golden mean". We clean the artichoke from the rough upper leaves and remove the shaggy inedible core. Then we'll make a very, very simple artichoke dish. Which once again confirms: simple cuisine is the most delicious!

Ingredients:

• four artichokes,
• two lemons,
• two st. spoons of balsamic vinegar
• bunch of parsley,
• garlic clove,
• black peppercorns,
• olive oil

How to choose artichokes

For easy cooking of artichokes, choose vegetables with tight-fitting leaves. A good artichoke should be firm to the touch. When you take it in your hand, it should feel quite heavy. This means that it is ripe and at the same time not dried out from the inside.

How to properly cut an artichoke

First of all, prepare a bowl of water and squeeze the juice from the lemons into it. This is necessary in order to preserve the color of the artichokes - when cut, they instantly darken. So try to dip your artichokes in lemon water more often. And leave them there to float before you start cooking.

Now, one by one, we tear off all the upper hard leaves, getting to the softer ones - we leave them!

This is how the artichoke will look after the procedure is completed.

But that's not all ... Let's move on to cleaning the artichoke legs. We remove the green shell along with the remains of the leaves at the base.

Here's what should happen.

Now cut off the top of the flower vegetable with a knife. About five centimeters. So that there are no more green leaves with sharp tips on the artichoke. After trimming, you will see a purple core inside. We also have to remove it.

We clean the shaggy core of the artichoke. It is most convenient to do this with a melon spoon. But in principle, it is quite possible to cope with the usual.

In general, it is most convenient to scrape out all the hairy spines from artichokes cut into halves.

This is what fully peeled artichokes look like, ready to cook.

Now let's move on to the preparation of artichokes.

How to cook artichokes

We will boil the artichokes for about half an hour, in the same lemon water in which we soaked them while peeling. We won't even take out the lemons. Ready-made artichokes are soft, but not boiled, but quite elastic.

While the artichokes are cooking, make the dressing. Mix olive oil with balsamic, salt, finely chopped parsley, freshly ground pepper and garlic grated on a fine grater. Pour the prepared artichokes with sauce, mix well and put in the refrigerator for half an hour.

This is how delicious we got. It can be served as an independent vegetable dish. Or as a side dish.

Artichokes cooked this way can also be used in salads. For example, in this one.

Mix artichokes with spinach leaves or any salad and halved cherry tomatoes. Season with a couple of tablespoons of sour cream mixed with yogurt.