After a crazy day yesterday, I headed home at about 6. I stopped to pick up some artichokes and that was a feat for me. I was tired and didn't want to cook anything or even stop at the store! I'm not a cook, really, mind you. In fact I have thought of getting Peg Bracken's The I Hate to Cook Book and veg-ing up those recipes for this blog in a counter-reaction to the many steps involved in Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I even went so far as to look up Peg's recipes and book experts online. I wasn't that impressed with the ingredients and the style, so to speak, though, so back to Julia.
On Sunday night I learned how to cut and prepare the artichokes for cooking. I reviewed it when I got home last night and I actually had fun snapping, cutting and trimming. I'm learning more about preparation for cooking than I ever thought was possible. All those little details! They're so important! Here are some things I learned about artichokes:
Cut off the stems.
Pull off the very bottom leaves along the base so that the artichoke can stand on its base in the water. (Yeah, right...artichokes don't like to sit in the water any more than Styrofoam does!) :)
Lay each artichoke on its side and chop off about the top 3/4 of an inch...giving it a flat top!
Wash them well (letting water run between the leaves).
Rub the cut portions of the artichoke with real lemon juice.
Put them into a basin full of cold water with 1 Tbsp. of vinegar per quart of water.
I did all that. Then I put them into boiling water with 1/2 lemon to preserve color, and let them boil for about 45 minutes.
Artichokes are done when you can pull off a leaf easily and the meat of the leaf is tender.
The little suckers didn't want to stay under the water, so I put a veggie steamer on top of them to hold them down!
They turned out beautifully. I was very happy and proud. I'm a totally novice 'fancy' cook, if you catch my drift. I can sling all kinds of things together and get really creative in the kitchen, when the mood strikes, and it has over the years...but I only like to do it when I have time. So making something from a Julia Child cookbook is a major thing for me.
I will tell you about the dipping sauce I made for them tomorrow! That's a long story and I'm ready to call it a day!
Peace,
Beverly
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