I grabbed Mastering the Art of French Cooking Sunday night and began combing through the vegetable pages, most of which Julia suggests serving with meat, or garnishing with meat products of some sort. In between all that, though, are some good recipes for vegetables and a ton of information on how to prepare them. Before that, however, a reversion to my last blog about sauteed mushrooms.
One important tip regarding sauteing any vegetable: the veggies to be sauteed must be completely DRY, otherwise the water creates an effect that keeps the flavor from being sealed in and the veggies are not nearly as tasty. Also the reason for the super hot oil (and the importance of the sizzle sound as the veggies hit the oil) is that without it, the veggies are steamed rather than sauteed.
I'm learning so much, and the funny thing is, folks, I'm not even a "cook" by my own definition...certainly not like Julie.
Back to today:
I was going to tell you all about the preparation of artichokes today, but having witnessed a nasty accident on the road yesterday, I didn't feel like dealing with it, so I've postponed it until later today. I DID learn how to trim the tips of the leaves, how to get rid of the stem and how to remove the choke from the center of the artichoke, and that is a major accomplishment. The day before that, I would have just thrown the artichoke into the boiling water not thinking about any of the preparation. :)
More about the artichoke later. I'm looking forward to it and I hope you like artichokes.
Peace.
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