Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Baked Artichokes & Broad Beans

Baked Artichokes with Broad Beans 1, cropped

This is going to be the ultimate in "short and sweet" blog posts today, since time is truly against me today, but this one is just too good not to share - besides this is my contribution to Cookbook Sundays this week, and already it is Tuesday.  The use of fresh artichokes and broad beans make this of course a quintessentially spring dish, but if you're living with the chill of autumn evenings right now you could just as easily make this with frozen artichokes and broad beans (and of course frozen peas), without any compromise to flavour.  The pink peppercorns in this add a lovely aromatic flavour, and a little bit of crunch, but if you can't get them I think I would leave them out - I don't think substituting with black or white peppercorns would work so well.  Though having just said that I think brined green peppercorns would make an interesting alternative.

This is another recipe from Ottolenghi, The Cookbook, which I've raved about before here

Ottolenghi: The Cookbook

Baked Artichokes & Broad Beans Recipe
Adapted from "Ottolenghi, The Cookbook"
Serves 2
Click here for a printable copy of this recipe 
Vegan/vegetarian

4 lemons
2 large globe artichokes (or frozen artichoke bottoms)
2 bay leaves
2 sprigs of thyme
2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon pink peppercorns
1/2 cup white wine
1/4 cup olive oil
250g shelled broad beans
250g frozen peas

To serve:
extra pink peppercorns
handful flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
flaky sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C (390 degrees F).

Juice one lemon and add the juice to a bowl of cold water.  Cut a second lemon in half - set one half aside for garnishing, keeping the second half at hand for use as you prepare the artichokes.  The artichokes oxidise quickly, so keep rubbing them with the cut side of the lemon flesh as you work.  Firstly peel off the tough outer leaves - they will kind of snap off near the base.  Then using a knife, trim around the bottom of the artichoke and peel away the tough, fibrous, outer layer of the stem.   Cut off the top half of the leaves. Then cut them in half lengthwise,  and scoop the "hairy" choke out of the middle.  Cut each half into thin slices, about .5cm (1/4 inch) thick, and drop them into the lemony bath.

(If using frozen artichoke bottoms, simply slice and continue as follows)

Juice the remaining two lemons, and reserve two of the empty lemon shells.

Drain the artichoke slices and spread them out on a baking tray.  Add the lemon juice, the reserved lemon shells, the bay leaves and thyme, sliced garlic, peppercorns, white wine and olive oil.

Baked Artichokes with Broad Beans 2, cropped

Cover with a sheet of tin foil and bake for 45-60 minutes or until the artichokes are tender.  Remove from the oven, remove tin foil, and allow to cool.

Meanwhile, bring a saucepan of water to the boil.  Add the broad beans and peas and blanch for two minutes.  Drain and refresh under cold water.  Allow to drain and dry in the colander, and then remove the tough outer skins from the broad beans.

Broad Beans

Discard the lemon shells from the artichokes.  Mix the artichokes with the broad beans, peas and parsley in a large serving bowl.  Cut the reserved lemon half into thin slices and add to the bowl.  Season to taste with flaky sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, and sprinkle over just a few more pink peppercorns.

This is best served at room temperature, and I also found that leftovers kept well for a couple of days.  This makes a great starter or side dish, or is beautiful on its own for a lovely spring lunch.

This is still my favourite book this year, and as I've told you before - if you only buy one new cookbook, let it be this one.

Ottolenghi: The Cookbook


I'm submitting this post to Cookbook Sundays, hosted by the lovely Brenda at Brenda's Canadian Kitchen.  She's worth a visit any day of the week, but why not head over there right now and see who else has dusted off their cookbooks - you'll almost certainly find some great recipes, and maybe you'll discover a new book you'd like to add to your collection.

cookbook sundays

16 comments:

  1. Pink peppercorns! I've never heard of such a thing, how cool are they!? Thank you so much for linking this lovely, healthy dish up to Cookbook Sundays Sue. You always inspire me to eat healthier!!

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  2. Love this! My parents just planted fava beans last weekend, so I'll have to wait until March to make this with the favas. But, artichokes are in the market, and I can get peas, so I'm adding this to my Thanksgiving table.

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  3. For such a simple dish, this seems like it's bursting with flavor. I can't wait until spring comes again so I can make this using fresh veggies!

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  4. how beautiful they look, and those pink peppercorns looks just too wonderful :)

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  5. thanks for sharing this lovely dish:) i will make this for my family soon.

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  6. Ohhh...I have seen pink peppercorns at a kitchen shop I am able to browse about in occassionally....looks great! Short and sweet post but long on flavor :-)

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  7. Wow!! this dish is so colorful! It made me smile... looks delicious!
    Brava!
    Barbaraxx

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  8. I love artichokes and I love broad beans (peeled! I cannot believe that people didn't peel broad beans here in NZ years ago!) so this is for me!

    ciao
    Alessandra

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  9. really heathy dish.Looks absolutely appetizing

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  10. Hi Brenda - thanks - the pink peppercorns are so pretty - I think you should be able to find them at pretty much any food specialty store.

    Louanne - how wonderful to have home-grown favas to look forward to. I hope you enjoy this dish :-)

    Thanks Joanne - I know I am so going to miss these wonderful springtime treasures in a few weeks time when they are gone - it is such a fleeting pleasure, but makes them all the more enjoyable while you have them :-)

    Thanks Ananda, and thanks for visiting.

    Thanks blackbookkitchendiaries - I hope your family enjoys this dish.

    Tina Marie & Barbara - thank you so much.

    Alessandra - you are so right - I grew up hating broad beans until I discovered you could peel them. I have subsequently convert many of my friends who also thought they hated broad beans because they had been fed them with the thick skin on - yuck! Such a special vegetable if you do it right :-)

    Torviewtoronto & sinfullyspicy - thank you so much.

    Sue :-)

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  11. What a beautiful dish! It looks absolutely delicious. I love the pink peppercorns as well. Such a beautiful pop of color!

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  12. Thanks you so much Julie - thanks for stopping by and commenting - hope you'll visit again.

    Sue :-)

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  13. The dish looks gorgeous. And I think we still have some artichokes left here in the Northern Hemisphere :)

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  14. The pink and green look so pretty together!! I like "short and sweet" although it still looks like you've put a great deal of effort on this post so just wanted to say on behalf of all, that we appreciate you taking the time to post this fabulous recipe :)

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  15. Hi Indie.Tea - gosh you are so lucky to still have artichokes there, we seem to get them for such a short time of the year down here.

    Hi Kimberly - thanks so much for stopping by and for your very kind words :-)

    Sue

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