I have always loved Stuffed Artichokes. When I was a child, my grandmother made them only for Christmas Eve dinner. Why Christmas Eve I will never understand because the seasons for artichokes are March-May and Fall, especially October. Of course we can pretty much get them any time of year now because we import them in off season.

This recipe for Stuffed Artichokes requires 6 large globe artchokes—the smaller ones are not adequate for stuffing. Choose artichokes that feel heavy and have tightly closed bright green leaves. Here are some facts about artichokes.

Though purple artichokes are tender and delicious, they tend to be smaller than the green variety and may not be suitable for stuffing.

My recipe for Stuffed Artichokes is an amalgam of Lydia Bastianich’s recipe, my grandmother’s, and my own elaborations.

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Fresh coarse bread crumbs are your best bet for this recipe. I like to make my own from slightly stale, white, non-sweet bread.

If you don’t make your own breadcrumbs , you can substitute Panko crumbs, but you will probably need to add more oil because the Panko is very dry. Regular fine-dry bread crumbs will not work well  for this recipe.

Mince the garlic and place it in a small saucepan with the olive oil and 1 teaspoon of the dried chili-pepper flakes. Over very low heat, warm the mixture for about 5-10 minutes just until very fragrant, but not at all cooked.

Allow this mixture to stand for at least 1 hour.

Juice the lemons and save the squeezed rinds. Fill a large bowl about half full with cold water, and add half of the lemon juice.

Preparing the Artichokes

With a heavy, sharp knife, slice off the stems of the artichokes flush with bottom so that they will stand upright.

Rub the bottoms of the artichokes with a squeezed lemon rind so that they will not discolor. If the stems are small and fairly tender, you can remove the outer fibrous layer with a vegetable peeler. If they are larger and tougher, slice off the tough outer layer with a knife. In this case, they were too tough to use a vegetable peeler.

Place the peeled stems in the lemon water.

Snap off the tough leaves around the bottom of the artichokes, or if very tough, use a knife to cut them off.

Slice off the top third of each artichoke.

Hold the artichokes in your hands and with your thumbs spread the leaves of the artichokes apart as much as possible.

Using a large heavy spoon, scoop out the purplish leaves in the center

Continue to scoop out the hairy choke under those leaves. If you can’t get all of the chokes out, your diners can remove them easily with a spoon after they are cooked.

Once a choke has been prepared, place it in the lemon water, so it doesn’t discolor.

Preparing the Stuffing

Finely chop the hard-boiled eggs.

In a small bowl, mix together the bread crumbs with half of the infused garlic and pepper-flake oil. Stir in the minced parsley, oregano, mint, chopped egg, and the Parmigiano. Mix well and season with salt and pepper to taste. If the mixture seems too dry, add a little extra olive oil.

The fresh herbs add a bit of extra work but provide a significant taste boost to the Stuffed Artichokes.

Stuffing the Artichokes

Remove 1 choke at a time from the lemon water, and drain it thoroughly. Fill the center of the artichoke with the breadcrumb mixture, also working as much of the mixture as possible in between the leaves.

Place each stuffed artichoke in a large, heavy Dutch oven. Tuck the peeled stems in between each artichoke.

Add enough cold water to the Dutch oven to cover the bottom third of the artichokes. Stir into the water the remaining infused oil and pepper mixture, the remaining 1⁄4 teaspoon of pepper flakes, and the remaining lemon juice. Add a generous amount of salt and pepper to this liquid.

Cooking the Artichokes

Lydia Bastianich likes to cook her artichokes in the oven, but I find this results in a somewhat dry and tough dish.

Bring the artichokes to the boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer, and cover the artichokes tightly. Cook for about 45-minutes to 1 hour until the leaves are tender when poked with a paring knife. The cooking time can vary significantly with the size and freshness of your artichokes.

Optional: If you want the crumb mixture to be browned, remove the artichokes from the Dutch oven, put them in a baking dish, and place under a broiler for a minute or two.

Serve the Stuffed  Artichokes, plus 1 stem for each, in shallow soup bowls, spooning some of the liquid around the bottom of each portion.

The Stuffed Artichokes may be cooked ahead, and then gently reheated before serving. They will often be even more tender and flavorful, but they look rather less attractive when reheated.

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