When I first tried to make this recipe, I didn’t cook the artichoke long enough so we ended up just gnawing on the leaves. Technically even when I do cook it long enough, we’re still gnawing on them but it has a more pleasant mouth feel than when it’s not cooked all the way through. With this recipe, I always double up the breadcrumbs because I really like the contrasting texture (so I tend to over stuff the artichokes) and these breadcrumbs are good on mac and cheese or other pasta dishes. Seriously, this should be a recipe for versatile breadcrumb topping instead.
Ingredients for breadcrumb stuffing/topping (as I’ve warned you above, this makes double the amount you’ll need):
- 0.5 cup of unsalted butter
- 2-2.5 cups panko breadcrumbs
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced finely
- Zest from 2 lemons
- 1-1.5 cups grated parmesan cheese (I usually use the real thing and grate it myself as opposed to the pre-grated kind that is shelf-stable before you open it. I haven’t tried it with that kind but I feel like you’re going to want to make this as good as you can)
- 0.75-1 cup of sliced almonds, chopped coarsely
- 0.75-1 cup of finely chopped fresh Italian parsley
- Salt and pepper to taste
Ingredients for stuffed artichoke:
- 4 medium to large artichokes
- Juice from 2 lemon (it’s fine to use zested lemon from the breadcrumb stuffing recipe above)
- About 2 cups of breadcrumb stuffing/topping
- 1 head of garlic
- 2-3 tbsp of oil (olive or any vegetable oil)
- 1 cup of mayonnaise
Instructions for breadcrumb stuffing/topping:
- Take half of the butter and melt it in a large saute pan over medium heat. After all the butter is melted, add in about half of the panko breadcrumbs and stir it around. The breadcrumbs will absorb all the butter almost immediately so just stir them around to make sure they get absorbed evenly. After a few minutes, clear a space in the middle of your saute pan, add the rest of the butter. Melt it down and then add the rest of your breadcrumbs. Turn the heat down to medium low, add the garlic, and stir everything every 20-30 seconds or so until it starts turning brown. Take the pan off the heat as it starts to turn brown. It will continue to get darker by another shade after you take it off the heat, so make sure you take it off before you reach the shade that you like it to be.
- Let the breadcrumb cool down a bit, and then transfer them to a large mixing bowl. Add in the remainder of the ingredients and mix them gently. I usually use my hands to mix them so I can sort of fluff it up a bit. Once they are all mixed thoroughly, they are ready to use or store. If you’re not using them right away, or if you have leftover, keep them in a container in the fridge. As long as you don’t introduce moisture when you are mixing them, they should last a couple of weeks in the fridge. They make very good topping for mac and cheese, buttered noodles, or baked chicken. Really, anything that can benefit from some crunch. Experiment! The sky is the limit here. 🙂
Instructions for stuffed artichokes:
- Fill up a large pot about halfway with water. Make sure you can fit all four artichokes in the pot. Quarter the lemons and squeeze out the juices of one and a half lemons into the water. Leave out half a lemon to make dipping sauce. Also, do not discard the squeezed out lemons.
- Peel and trim the stem of the artichokes, pull off any tough outer leaves and discard. Using a sharp knife, trim the top third of the artichoke. This will be mostly the sharp parts of the leaves. After that, take a pair of kitchen shears and trim off any remaining sharp leaves to make for a more enjoyable eating experience later on. After trimming them down, rub the sides that you have cut with the squeezed out lemon rinds to help prevent oxidation. Then, toss the artichokes into the pot.
- Bring the artichokes in water up to a boil, then lower the heat down to medium low and let it simmer for about 40 minutes. Depending on the size of your artichokes, this can take between 30 minutes to an hour. You can test them out by piercing the base with a paring knife. Once a knife goes through easily, the artichokes are done.
- Drain the artichokes (save about 2 cups of the water) and put them upside down on clean paper towels. This will help drain any excess moisture. At this time, preheat your oven to degrees. Once the artichokes have cooled down, pry open the leaves gently and fill each layer with the breadcrumb stuffing. You can go as much or as little as you like here.
- Once all the artichokes are stuffed, put them in an oven-safe baking dish and then pour some of the water that you saved earlier into the bottom of the dish. You want about an inch of water. Drizzle some oil on top of the artichokes, and then cover tightly with foil.
- Trim off about a quarter inch of the top of the head of garlic, then drizzle the exposed top with some oil. Wrap tightly in foil.
- Put the artichokes and wrapped garlic in the oven together and bake for about 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, take the foil off the artichoke and put them back in the oven to bake for another 10 minutes. This will crisp up the breadcrumb stuffing.
- Take the artichoke and garlic out of the oven. Very carefully (because it is very hot), remove the foil from the garlic and pry apart each clove. Using a fork, you should be able to release the cloves from the skin. Mash the garlic cloves in a bowl and then add the mayo and juice from half a lemon. Mix well, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Note, I like white pepper in this dipping sauce much better than black pepper. They lend a much more subtle taste.
- Serve the stuffed artichokes with garlic-lemon aioli on the side.
PS. Some people may be outraged that I call the dipping sauce aioli. If you want to be authentic, yes definitely make your own aioli from scratch but I’m giving you my shortcut by using store-bought mayonnaise because come on, by the time you’ve made the breadcrumb stuffing and prepped all the artichokes, you really want something much more simpler and less time-consuming.
A Dash of Yoyo 