We call them “cacocciuli a viddaniedda” in Palermo. These marinated artichokes have become my staple lunch for the last few months. I make them often and my boyfriend sends them home from his restaurant for me. The technique is super simple but requires the elbow grease to clean them properly. The local artichokes we find here in Sicily are a purple/green color and have little spines on each leaf. While cleaning artichokes is already an annoying task, add a spike on the end and it becomes brutal. You just need to be careful. You’ll want to choose the ones that are closed tightly. If they look like the leaves are spreading apart from the center, they are probably not as fresh as they should be.
INGREDIENTS
Artichokes, 2 per person is a nice size for a starter
2 Lemons
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3 Cloves of Garlic, peeled/chopped
3 Cured Anchovies (You could omit to make this a vegan dish but will need to pump up the seasoning.)
Parsley, chopped
Sea salt + pepper as you wish, the marinade is already salted
CLEANING YOUR ARTICHOKES
Put a pot of water on the stove to boil while you work on cleaning the artichokes. When it comes to a boil, add a little bit of salt - less than you would use for pasta.
Prep a bowl of water with lemons squeezed in it to help with oxidation.
Start by plucking off the tough outer leaves, and work your way down until you see only the yellow tender part of the artichoke. Chop off about 2/3 of the top of the artichoke and discard the leaves. Peel the stem and around the base then slice it in half longways. Scoop out the fuzzy choke and discard. Rub the scooped out halves with lemon and toss them into your acidulated water until you finish up the others.
Plop the artichokes into salted boiling water and add one lemon piece to cook with them. Pro-tip: this will bring back the yellow color of the artichokes even if they turned a little brown while you were cleaning them. Don’t add too much lemon in the water or it will change the flavor and become bitter.
PREPARING THE MARINADE
While the artichokes boil, just for 2-3 minutes - prepare your marinade in a small saucepan.
Add a healthy serving of extra virgin olive oil, more than you might think necessary.
Sautee on low your oil and garlic, do not burn it!!
Add in the anchovies and let them melt down and break into smaller pieces.
As soon as the marinade is ready, I throw in the chopped parsley and let it frizzle with the fire turned off.
After cooling a bit, give it a lick and check if you want any black pepper or more salt.
HOW TO SERVE
Arrange the boiled and blotted dry artichokes in your serving plate with their scooped out hearts facing up, this will catch all the marinade.
Pour the marinade over everything and top it with more fresh parsley if you’d like.
These will be even better the next day. Don’t be afraid to add lots of extra virgin olive oil because the best part of this dish is not actually the artichoke but the sloppy sauce that remains at the bottom of the plate to be scooped up with toasty sesame bread… remember to “fare la scarpetta”.
Eat them at room temp and add another glug of oil over the top. I usually eat them with an entire loaf of bread and a fresh crisp salad of some kind — topped with a hefty sprinkle of crunchy caperberry seeds “granella di cucunci“ that I get from La Nicchia on the island of Pantelleria.