"A" is for artichoke, my favourite vegetable, so I thought it would be a place to start. Also being nearly Valentines Day, they are a vegetable with heart! And a little known fact: Marilyn Monroe was the first artichoke pageant beauty queen, crowned in 1948.
Artichokes are a bit difficult to find in Hastings. I am going to try and grow them from seed this month as the plants at the garden centre were nearly £10 each. Need to find the perfect place in the Walled Garden for them. If all goes well they should be ready to harvest around June. I will keep you posted here!
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| Another roadside stop in Castroville, near Monterey: The Giant Artichoke (notice the GIANT artichoke at the entrance)! |
They are very common where I grew up in northern California. Roadside fruit and vegetable stands on the coast, near Half Moon Bay are the best! The other day I had a craving for Duarte’s Famous Cream of Artichoke Soup. We used to stop at Duarte's Tavern, in Pescadero on our trips to the beach. On a lucky day last week I found some artichokes at our local Asian shop and used them in the recipe above. Pretty close to the original! Just need some sourdough bread on the side!
How I like them:
- Give them a good wash, get between the leaves.
- Trim the stem to about an inch, a bit off the top and any prickly leaf tips.
- Put them in a large pot of boiling water with a couple cloves of garlic, peppercorns, a squeeze of lemon (helps keep them green) and a few juniper berries (if you have them).
- Boil until tender (about 15-20 min depending on their size), check with a skewer.
- Drain upside down on a plate.
- Mix fresh crushed garlic with mayonnaise for dipping. And don't forget to eat the heart!
"A woman is like an artichoke, you must work hard to get to her heart." - Inspector Jacques Clouseau in The Pink Panther (2006)
"I have a heart like an artichoke - a leaf for everyone." - from the 1947 film Nightmare Alley
"At least you'll never be a vegetable - even artichokes have hearts." - Amélie Poulain in the film Amélie
"Eating an artichoke is like getting to know someone really well." - Willi Hastings
2 comments:
Another well known saying, "Kiss my artichoke!" - Hunched back old man, Wallace and Gromit's The Were Rabbit. LOl! Welcome to Blog land, honey.
Meal tip: Add seafood (shrimp, crab, etc), sausage, corn on the cob, red potatoes, onion, garlic for a cajun style 1 pot meal.
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