12 artichokes, medium, fresh
2 lemons, juice and rinds salt pepp
3 cup olive oil
Directions
Carciofo All Guidia To quote the author, "This is the most famous of
all Italian Jewish foods. It originated with the Roman Jews, and owes
its fame to having been served at a restaurant in the Roman ghetto
where it was discovered and quickly adopted by connoisseurs of
excellent food all over Europe. Utimately it found its way into many
Italian cookbooks, My mother, a Jewish woman who was born and raised
in Rome, prepared especially delicious Carciofi all Guidia (better
than you could find in any restaurant!). I watched her prepare them,
and have prepared them myself, practically all my life. Here in my
mother's technique in detail"
Trim the artichokes as detailed in "How to clean artichokes- Jewish
style" and keep them in lemon water till you are ready to use them.
"Drain the two artichokes and, holding one in each hand by the stem
and bottom, gently hit the leafy parts against each other until the
leaves of one open up a little. Place the opened artichoke, bottom
up, on a board or a working surface. Drain another artichoke from its
bath and repeat what you did with the first two, and line up the one
that opens next to the last one. Continue until all the artichokes
are opened up. The last one will have to be tapped against the board.
In a small bowl, combine salt and pepper. Take one artichoke at a
time and sprinkle all over, including between the leaves, with salt
and pepper mixture. Heat the oil in a deep earthenware or similar
saucepan. Cook as many artichokes at a time as fit in one layer over
moderate heat for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the bottoms and the
sides are well browned. During the cooking period, sprinkle some cold
water over the artichokes to produce steam, so that the inside will
be cooked, too. To do this the authentic way, have a bowl containing
cold water near the range. Dip your closed fist in the water and then
open it forcefully over the roasting artichokes. Repeat sprinkling
several times. When all the artichokes are done, transfer them to a
plate, bottom side down to keep the moisture in.* Pick them up at the
bottom with a fork and dip them, one by one in the hot oil again,
pressing the leaves to the bottom of the pan. The artichokes will
open up like roses and the leaves will become golden and crisp. Serve
immediately.
NOTE: Although traditionally Carciofi alla Giudia are served piping
hot, they are delicious at room temperature.
*Up to this point you may prepare the artichokes several hours ahead
of time and keep them, bottom side down, so that they do not lost
their moisture. Should they become too dry, sprinkle some cold water
on them when reheating and press the leaves down against the bottom
of the pan.
Servings: 6 servings
Artichokes Jewish Style Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Jewish; Vegetable
The History of Recipes
Academics have found proof that recipes existed way back into the distant past, in fact as far as the Egyptians, and quite possibly further than that. In practice though, these, ancient records were just very simple hieroglyphic instructions for preparing food.
Interestingly, the most ancient recipe in existence, according to Professor Solomon Katz, are some stone tablets in ancient Sumerian which show the making of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as having made people feel wonderful and blissful. Later on, in Roman times 25BC a man called Apicius assembled a few documents showing how to cook the recipes prepared by wealthy roman citizens. In his works, he tells us how the roman meals were split into hors d`oeuvre, main meal and afters, something we still use today. Aspicius informs us how the Roman chefs made use of a wide range of spices and herbs, including a few that will be familiar to modern cooks such as basil, rue and dill. Closer to modern times, there are a couple of books from the fourteenth century - a recipe book titled `Forme of Cury`, and another, similary entitled `Curye on Inglish`. Despite their titles, these are unconnected to the spicy food that is familiar to us all today, but rather descriptions of the types of meals on the tables of the nobility of the time. In the fifteenth century, the Crusaders brought back many new foods, spices and herbs from Arab cooking, including coriander, parsley, and rosemary. The introduction of these new tastes prompted an eruption in cookery books, most of which still exist in academic collections. During the succeeding few centuries, the powerful families of the West strove to lay on the best banquets, and as a consequence, the best cooks and their recipes were highly sought after. However, it wasn`t until the 19th century the formal cooking and recipe books became really popular. The Famous Mrs Isabella Beeton in the UK, and the equally famous Fannie Merritt Farmer in the US, dedicated years of their lives to assembling, testing, and publishing recipes for their fellow cooks to enjoy. By the arrival of the 1900s, recipe books are starting to become popular due to more people being able to read, people having increased free time and being a little richer. Like it or not, the introduction of television brought us celebrity TV chefs and the spin-off recipe books. And that pretty much brings us to the present day and the invention of the internet, allowing us all to search through thousands of recipes just like those on this site. |
We hope you enjoy this Artichokes Jewish Style recipe.
