Friday, June 26 - Articoke, Bean and Greens Stew

D does artichokes really well but he always does them the same way; Lemon Braised served on fettucini. It's wonderful but there are other ways to do this lovely vegetable from the thistle family. I'm quite glad that D likes to do them so much. The first time he made them, I thought maybe he was 'putting up' with it so we could have some but as it turns out, he enjoys the process. Yay for me. I prefer to either buy the marinated italian ones or the roasted ones in the olive bars in the nicer markets. YUM! Albeit, they're not as nice as fresh, well, the BBQ'd ones you can buy at the IGA olive bar are not bad. They look and taste as if they've been made in the last few days. If you're going to steam them whole and munch on the leaf ends, which I don't entirely understand, you have to remove the thistle carefully down in the middle. It gets everywhere. They're worse than small fish bones. If you do just the hearts, as we do, you have to trim off all the leaves and clean the choke out. Now the trimming does help the de-choking a bit but not too much and the trimming is quite labourious as well. Yay for me, D likes the process like I do baking bread.

This recipe is based on Saveur Magazine but I suggested we add some white canellini beans to add some weight to the soup. It's called a stew but really it's a soup. As well, I made some quinoa to serve in the soup as well.

Artichoke, Beans and Greens Stew

1/4 c T olive oil

4 large full sized artichokes, trimmed, cleaned and de-choked

6 shallots halved

kosher salt

2 t black sesame seeds

(1.5 t ground sumac was the original but we didn't have it. It's meant to add a tartness similar to lemons)

1 whole lemon juiced and zest

1/2 t hot paprika

1/2 t fresh black pepper

8 oz curly endive, roots trimmed

8 oz swiss chared, stemmed and sliced

4 cups water

1 lemon quartered

Heat 1/4 c oil in a dutch oven over medium heat. Add artichokes and shallots and cook a few minutes until golden, stir occasionally, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and add sesame seeds, paprika, lemon zest and pepper another couple minutes. Add 4 cups water and bring to boil. Reduce to medium low and simmer uncovered until artichokes and shallots are tender, 15 minutes more. Add greens and beans, let simmer a few more minutes until greens are wilted and beans heated through. Serve with lemon.

Serve with crusty bread or with quinoa.

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