I recently held my first-ever official Italian cooking class.
While it’s true that I’ve been informally teaching friends and family Italian recipes, tips, and cooking techniques for years… this was my first organized class… and it was a huge success — lots of fun and laughter, and most importantly: good food!!
One of the stars of the class was the artichoke — featured in the recipe “Carciofi al cartoccio”, or Steam-Roasted Arthchokes. Just like in Italy, artichokes in California are plentiful this time of year.
Being that it’s my birthday week, and as a tip-of-the-hat to Italian traditions whereby on your birthday YOU treat others to something (dinner, drinks, etc) (opposite custom as in the States), I’m going to share my favorite artichoke recipe with you.
This tasty recipe will have you leccando i baffi (licking your plate, or literally “licking your whiskers”) and your friends asking for the recipe!
Info on upcoming Italian cooking classes
Jodina demonstrating the recipe in Italian cooking class
It’s easy; it’s foolproof, and here it is:
Steam-Roasted Artichokes / “Carciofi al cartoccio”
Note #1: In Italian cooking, the term al cartoccio refers to oven-cooking food tightly sealed, usually in aluminum foil, or sometimes oven paper. The unique effect of this method is that while the food is roasting, it is also steaming because all the moisture and juices are sealed in — a technique I have dubbed “steam-roasting”.
Note #2: Within an Italian menu, this recipe would find its place as a contorno, or side dish, served alongside a secondo piatto (second course) of meat, fish, or poultry.
Ingredients (per artichoke):
- Carciofi or artichokes – 1
- Limone or lemon – ½
- Aglio or garlic – 1-3 cloves
- Olio d’oliva or olive oil – about 1 ½-2 tblsp
- Sale or salt – a pinch
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 425°
- Grab artichoke by stem and cut off approx top 1 in, then cut off stem. If desired trim pokey bits of outer leaves.
- Put artichoke in a bowl to catch all juices
- To prevent browning, squeeze juice of ½ a lemon over the cut parts
- Use hands to open out and separate the artichoke leaves a bit
- Use knife to poke down thru the center of the choke to open it up a bit
- Drizzle about 1 ½-2 tblsp olive oil into the cracks and crevices between leaves
- In the middle (purple part) insert garlic clove(s)
- Sprinkle over top a big healthy pinch of ground sea salt (or kosher salt)
- Place in center of a piece of heavy duty aluminum foil and drizzle over the juices from the bowl and tightly wrap the artichoke. Repeat with a second piece of foil.
- Be sure to wrap tightly to prevent the air escaping and to hold in the moisture.
Cook for approx 1 hr, 20 min
Foil-wrapped artichokes just out of the oven
When cool enough to handle, unwrap and eat. If desired, dip in melted butter.
(Optional: use roasted garlic cloves to make garlic butter.)
I’ll bet you’re on your way to the store right now for some fresh artichokes — Let me know how they turn out!
Buon appetito!
Leave comments on artichokes, Italian cooking, and anything else below!
Hi Jodina,
I love to cook, so thanks for the resipe. Looks delicious!!!!!!!!! Leave for Italy tomorrow, can’t wait! Hopefully we will be able to enjoy some artichokes there.
Cheryl
Ciao Jodina! This looks amazing! I’m going to try it when I get back from No. CAlif.
Patrizia numero due
buona sera jodina,
Keep writing and I’ll be there on some saturday.
love, donna
I will try it this weekend. Thanks and Happy Birthday. Nina
There are in Italy two kinds of Artichoke.
We do have two kinds of artichokes:
The one from Liguria and from Sardenia. They have thorns at the end of the slave
The one you showed in your pictures are the typical Roman artichokes, without of any thorn.
Nice you are trying to use Italian ways of of cooking.
Kisses
Giancarlo
Grazie Giancarlo!
Cucino sempre all’italiana… il cibo migliore che ci sia 😉
Jodina
Belated Happy Birthday, Bella Jodina!!! So glad you were born! Thank you for the simple yet sumptuous recipe!
Best Wishes,
Lisa
love the picture of the artichokes. it looks like a work of art, suitable for framing. the picture of the foil wrapped chokes is adorable. save both for you cookbook.
love,
susanna
Tried this recipe this weekend. I liked it very much, and it was well received my my son -in-law who is a gourmand. Thank you so much for suggesting your website and the artichokes. Grazie!
Ciao Carolina,
so glad you and your fam enjoyed the ‘chokes!
Stay tuned for a mighty onion recipe — coming soon .
🙂
Jodina
Ciao Jodina! Of the many ways I’ve read to make artichoke, yours is the closest to the way my grandmother made them. She came from Bellona, Caserta, Campania (Napoli). Here are the few differences:
1. The garlic is sliced, maybe an eighth of an inch thick.
2. The artichokes are stuffed with alternating layers of the sliced garlic, parsley leaves, salt and pepper. Use maybe two to four times as much parsley as garlic.
3. The tops of the artichoke leaves are not cut off. They help provide a way to hold the leaf as the tender part is removed by pulling the leaf across your lower teeth. (I suspect that not cutting the leaves makes it harder to open the artichoke for stuffing.)
4. The artichokes are not wrapped individually. Instead they are placed in a deep baking dish, stem side on the bottom. Change the dish size or number of artichokes to get them all standing up, or add a wad of foil to the open space. (I suspect individual wapping is a better idea though.)
5. Add a half inch of water to the dish, drizzle the stuffed artichokes with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, cover very, very tightly with foil. This is very important, otherwise you’ll get some very dried leaves.
If nothing else, try adding the prezzemolo (parsley). When we were little my siblings and I used to sneak a tiny bit of the parsley/garlic stuffing out of a few artichokes when no one was looking. Then we would complain to mom that the artichoke that we got didn’t have enough stuffing.
Grazie tante Franco for sharing your nonna’s carciofo recipe!
I will definitely try adding the prezzemolo (parsley)…
Did you know that parsley is often paired with dishes containing lots of garlic because it offsets the mal di pancia (tummy ache) that garlic causes some people.
Love the sidebar of you and your fratelli snitching the stuffing — prezioso!
Jodina
Ciao Jodina,
I’ll have to try that recipe. The last time I had artichokes that way was at a festival in Cerda Sicily, and they were delicious! Thanks for posting.
Ciao Larry and grazie for your comment. DO try these, they are so easy, AND you can make them for guests and make a “bella figura”!
Jodina