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The most amazing artichoke I ever ate was purchased from a guy with a vegetable pushcart on Karl Johans Gate in Oslo. They were shaped a little differently from the ones I was used to in the U.S.—they were from France and were a bit longer and more pointed. I bought six, one for each of us, and took them back home on the train to my apartment in Vormsund. The next day I took the train back to the city, just to find that guy and buy more of them. I never found him again, but the intensity of artichoke-y-ness inherent in those emerald leaves will remain ever fixed in my memory . . .

I don’t think I’ve ever met a vegetable that I didn’t like.

And with that said, artichokes just might be my favorite vegetable.

Not everyone is familiar with this fabulous vegetable. The leafy globe that’s marked “artichokes” in the market is actually a flower bud from a large thistle plant. If they’re not harvested and eaten, they will bloom into a lovely purple flower.

How to eat an artichoke: If you’ve never had one and are feeling intimidated by them, just follow these directions and no one will know it’s your first time.

• Pull off one of the bracts—one generally starts with the bracts on the bottom and goes around the circumference, getting closer and closer to the heart. (You’ll find that the higher you go, the more meat there is on each bract, and the more tender they become. Meaning, while you’re eating it, it just gets better and better.)

• Hold the bract at the tip and dip the bottom, the part that was attached to the base of the artichoke, into your sauce. The yummy stuff is on the inside, the concave part of the bract.

• Still holding the end, slide the bract between your teeth and pull the bract back, using your teeth to scrape off the edible part. Some people use their top teeth; others use their bottom teeth. Either is fine.

• Once you’ve scraped off the rich flesh, discard the bract into a bowl set out for this purpose and reach for the next one.

• Once you’ve gone through all the bracts, you’ll see the heart. It is covered in sharp little needles (the choke) that are totally inedible. Use your spoon to dig them out, trying not to cut into the heart below. The heart is the best part. It has the most intense artichoke-y flavor. Cut off a piece of the heart, dip it in your sauce, and get ready for an experience!

I’m perfectly happy to eat them steamed, with a little bowl of melted butter for dipping, but when stuffed and roasted they become the star of the dinner plate.

As for you omnivores, be sure to check out my recipe for artichokes suffed with lamb. Now we’re talking about a hearty meal!

Here’s my favorite dipping sauce, for when I’m not stuffing them:

Put a chunk of butter in a small ramekin, one for each diner. Add an (approximately) equal amount of good, fruity olive oil. If you’re butter is unsalted, and salt. I like a lot. Add a tiny clove of finely minced garlic to each one, or a piece of a larger clove. Use your judgement. Place the ramekins into the microwave and zap them for about 20 seconds on half power. Check them and put them in for more time if the butter isn’t melted and the sauce isn’t hot. Don’t heat them on full power—you will spend an hour cleaning splattered butter off the entire inside of the machine—trust me on this . . . When they’re hot, add a generous squeeze of lemon in each one and bring them to the table.

Now, let’s get to the heart of the matter. If I’m eating a plain steamed artichoke, pulling off leaves and dipping them in a sauce, I don’t mind having to remove the choke when I get to the heart. Easily done with a spoon or a dinner knife—I mastered the technique by the time I was eight. When the artichoke is stuffed, however, it’s a different story. It’s very annoying to try to separate the choke from the stuffing, and getting some of the choke in your mouth is as pleasant as munching on a bunch of little cactus spines.

Removing the choke from a raw artichoke is no simple feat. When raw, the leaves are not pliant. It’s difficult to separate them enough to get into the center, and if you do get there, it’s also difficult to ascertain where the choke ends and the heart begins…and the last thing you want to do is to sacrifice a single morsel of the heart, which is one of the most extraordinary flavors of the vegetable world.

So, I thought, what if I par-boil them, then stuff them, and then finish them in the oven? It was an excellent idea that took several tries to get right.

I learned that the sweet spot is to steam them for somewhere between 10 and 15 minutes, sometimes a little longer depending upon their size. You want the leaves to be yielding so that you can easily separate them enough to get some stuffing into each one. You want the heart and choke to be soft enough to easily scoop out the hairy part. But if they’re too soft, you’ll be struggling to keep the leaves from falling off while you handle them.

Once filled, the artichokes go into an oven-safe baking dish with a bit of olive oil, some white wine, lots of garlic, and a cup of stock (I use no-chicken stock to keep them vegetarian.) They’re covered tightly with foil and baked for 30 minutes, during which time they steam and continue to cook all the way through. Then the foil is removed and they’re baked for another 20 minutes. They come out soft and tender where you want them to be soft and tender, and browned and crisped where you want them to be brown and crisp. Artichoke heaven!

Note: Stuffed artichokes don’t need a dipping sauce. The stuffing takes the place of that.

There’s a lot of flexibility within the structure of this recipe, and I’m a big fan of choice. This time I added some shiitake mushrooms to the stuffing, because I had a handful of them in the fridge. I also had some less-than-perfectly-fresh Asiago cheese in the fridge that I had saved to use in some to-be-determined-later fashion, and I decided that this was the perfect place for it. I added it to my breadcrumbs. Nice!

The basic formula for Italian bread stuffing is the same, whether it’s being used for stuffing vegetables or for seafood. One starts with onions, garlic, parsley, seasoned bread crumbs, olive oil, and usually some grated hard cheese, such as Parmesan, Locatelli Romano, aged Fontina, or Asiago to name a few. The difference from one stuffing to the next is the addition of some of whatever it is that you’re stuffing, such as adding chopped mushroom stems to the stuffing for mushrooms and chopped artichoke stems for stuffing artichokes. Whatever you use the stuffing for, once baked, the stuffing takes on the flavor of whatever you’ve stuffed.

About the breadcrumbs … When I was growing up, every Italian grandmother (and a few grandfathers) in my neighborhood started with commercial, packaged Italian seasoned breadcrumbs. Each cook added their own extra flavorings and aromatics, but starting from commercial breadcrumbs delivers a consistent finished product. If it was good enough for them, it’s good enough for me. Note: There are kosher pareve brands available. The Italian brands contain cheese, which takes them out of the pareve category if you keep kosher.

Most recipes for stuffed artichokes don’t use nuts, but since I’m using these as the entrée for a vegetarian meal, the addition of chopped nuts adds some protein to the plate, as well as another layer of flavor. I find that the nuts that work best in this are pignolis (pine nuts), hazelnuts, or walnuts. You want to chop those nuts pretty finely, but not to powder. Also, feel free to check your fridge for bits and pieces of things that you’d like to use up and add them to the stuffing mixture. Just make sure that everything is finely chopped.

Stuffed Artichokes, Italian Style

Prepare The Artichokes for Stuffing

• Begin by pulling off the smaller bracts all around the bottom of the artichoke, going up one or two layers. The photo should give you a good idea of how far to take it.

• Next, cut off the stem at the base, leaving a level bottom so that the artichoke sits up nicely and proudly on the plate.

• Sometimes artichoke stems are tender and edible, other times not so much. But…you won’t know until you try. Using a vegetable peeler, remove the tough outer skin from the stems and cut the stems into ½ inch long pieces. You’ll steam them along with the artichokes and then decide if you’re going to add them to the stuffing or toss them. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

• Lay the artichokes on their sides and use a heavy knife to cut off the top quarter of each one.

• Then, with kitchen scissors, cut the sharp points off each leaf, or dinner might become an extreme sport, requiring medical support teams at the ready.

• Put the loose bracts you removed, as well as the stems, cut into pieces, into a large pot of cold water, and bring it to a boil. The pot should be big enough to hold all of your artichokes and the water should come up high enough to cover them about half-way.

• When the water boils, add the artichokes, cover the pot, and simmer them for 15—20 minutes. You should be able to pierce the bottoms with a fork, but don’t let them get too tender or they will be difficult to stuff.

• Then, remove the artichokes, the loose bracts, and the stem pieces from the pot and allow them to rest until they’re cool enough to handle easily. Taste a piece of the stem and determine whether or not it’s pleasant to eat. (you’ll need to peel off the outer layer, which is hard.) If yes, finely chop them and set them aside.

• Once cool, gently separate the center bracts with your fingers and pull out the little pale colored pointy leaves in the center. Scoop out the hairy choke using a sharp melon baller (or the tip of a spoon). Your artichokes are now ready to stuff.

Make the Stuffing

This is enough filling for 2—3 large globe artichokes. Depending upon the appetite of your diners and the rest of your menu, you may want to serve half to each person.

Or, if you have a market that carries smaller artichokes (like Trader Joe’s), this stuffing will be ample for 4—6 of them. They make a great side.

Ingredients:

About ½ cup of good quality, certified extra virgin Italian olive oil.*

6 to 8 large cloves garlic, minced. (divided use)

1 large yellow or white onion, finely chopped

2 cups Italian seasoned breadcrumbs—not panko

2 ounces hard Italian grating cheese, such as Parmigiano Reggiano, Locatelli, aged Fontina, Asiago…, finely grated

½ cup handful of fresh Italian flat leaf parsley, finely chopped

1 lemon (I prefer to use organic when I’m using the zest, and I will be)

salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Optional— other fresh herbs of choice, such as rosemary, thyme, oregano, tarragon, etc., finely chopped (I don’t give amounts here because some herbs are stronger than others. Use your judgement and use a light hand.

Optional—mushrooms, cooked artichoke stems, whatever you fancy, finely chopped.

Optional—½ cup of finely chopped pine nuts, hazelnuts, or walnuts.

Method:

• In a large skillet, warm ¼ cup of fruity olive oil over a low flame and add the chopped onion. Give them a light sprinkle of salt and sauté until they just begin to turn golden. (You will want to stir them now and again.)

• Add in the garlic (reserving 2 cloves) and any other other vegetables you might be adding, such as mushrooms, artichoke stems, etc. and cook, stirring, until everything is nicely caramelized. If you’re adding other herbs, add them now and cook for another minute. Then remove the skillet from the heat.

• To the vegetables in the skillet, add the breadcrumbs, the parsley, the lemon peel, and a squeeze in a little lemon juice, from ¼ of the lemon. If you’re using nuts, add them now. Add the cheese, reserving 2 tablespoons for the top. Add enough olive oil to make the mixture very moist, so that it holds together if you press it into a ball. You’ll need a minimum of another ¼ cup. Bear in mind that, when eating a steamed artichoke, each leaf is dipped into melted butter or another sauce. There needs to be enough oil in the stuffing to make up for the lack of sauce.

• Add in a couple of twists of the pepper mill and taste for seasoning. Add a bit more lemon if you like. It probably won’t need salt because the bread crumbs are salted and the cheese is salty.

Stuff the Artichokes

Starting at the base of your prepared artichoke and going around in a spiral. tuck a little stuffing into the inside of each bract. You can be respectable and use a spoon, but I find that clean fingers work best … Don’t over-fill the individual bracts.

When you get to the center, fill it with more stuffing.

Here’s a tip: Once the stuffing is made, separate it into even piles according to the number of artichokes you have. This way you won’t run out of stuffing before you run out of artichokes, nor will you have a bunch of stuffing left over.

Roast the Artichokes

Ingredients:

olive oil for the bottom of the dish.

½ cup white wine (If you haven’t got any, just leave it out. But it’s nice…)

3 tablespoons butter, cut in small pieces

1 teaspoon bullion paste or powder, no-chicken, or vegetable (If keeping kosher isn’t important to you, you can use chicken bullion).

½ cup boiling water

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 375°.

• In a baking dish (preferably one that’s sized to exactly hold all the artichokes with just a little leftover space), pour another glug of olive oil, just enough to cover.

• Add the remaining minced garlic and the white wine. Scatter the butter pieces evenly over the dish.

• Arrange the artichokes in the dish. Dissolve the bullion in the boiling water and pour it around the artichokes.

• Then, tent the pan with aluminum foil. You want the foil to be tight around the dish to retain steam, but loose enough on top to not touch them.

• Slide the pan into the oven and roast for 30 minutes.

• Remove the foil. Check to see if they’re soft and cooked through—if not, replace the cover and roast them a little longer. Once they’re tender, move on to the next step.

• Spoon a little of the liquid from the bottom of the dish over the artichokes. Sprinkle them with the reserved cheese and return the dish to the oven, uncovered. Roast for another 15—20 minutes, until the cheese on top and the edges of the bracts are beginning to brown.

• Serve the artichokes, setting an empty bowl on the table as a place to discard the bracts.

The Twisted Challah Recommends…

Did you know? Most olive oils that claim to be “extra virgin” often are not—and that goes for some expensive ones, too. One of my absolute favorites, the one I use most often (especially for Italian cooking) is Costco’s house brand, “Kirkland.” Forego the organic one. The regular Italian, certified extra virgin, is the best. And, it’s very reasonably priced, too. If you don’t have a membership you can find it here, but it’s cheaper at Costco. Otherwise, look for an olive oil that is certified extra virgin, that uses olive from one source only, and is bottled where harvested.