Artichokes with Garlic, Parsley and Bread Stuffing

I picked some wonderful artichokes from the Slow Food Waitakere communal gardens, yum!! Usually I like to cook them alla romana, with garlic and parsley

(you can find the recipe, which appeared on Cuisine Magazine, by clicking here)

Photo by Aaron McLean for Cuisine Magazine

and I was happy to see that the recipe has been picked up by another New Zealand blogger, Arfi of HomeMadeS, here is her recipe

So my artichokes, cut and cleaned with water and lemon, and stuffed with chopped garlic, parsley, salt and olive oil, were ready for the pot.

Then I remembered my friend Enza from Io da Grande who posted a Sicilian recipe on an Italian Food Forum...but I could not remember the name of the recipe, just that it was very similar but with the addition of (I think) breadcrumbs. And so I did.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

I simmered the artichokes slowly, adding water little by little to the bottom of the pot, until the outer leaves were easy to pull off by hand. We ate them with gusto, it was the very first taste of this vegetable for my father in law, visiting from Christchurch.

And as I had a few leftovers in the pot I scraped off the tender flesh form the outer leaves and mixed it with the soft artichokes hearts and their stock (the water from the artichokes makes a wonderful stock) and made a lovely sauce to dress pasta the day after.

The same sauce can be spread on crostini.