As many of you know, my friend Kim Moss has moved back to Truchas and is living in his Airstream on my property for the summer (see previous post A Very Mini Artist’s Colony in New Mexico). We’ve been doing lots of cooking and I wanted to share this wonderful recipe for his delicious young artichoke hearts:

Ingredients

4 small to medium young artichokes, stems and leaves removed

1 T butter

1 T olive oil

2 cloves garlic, finely minced

4 T breadcrumbs (more or less depending on the size of the artichokes)

Chili powder

Olive oil

Preheat the oven to 400.

First, cut off the stems.

Then break off the leaves–sort of snap them off–taking it down to where it’s a little white.

Cut them just above the choke.





Trim them back until all the green is removed. The dark green can be fairly bitter. You can use a knife at first and then a peeler.





Rub them in a little lemon juice so they don’t turn brown.

Put approximately an inch of water and a sprinkling of salt in a pan and place the artichokes choke down. Cover and simmer for about 5 to 10 minutes, until a knife slides into them easily.

Once they’re cooked and cooled a bit, scoop out all of the choke. The best tool to use for this is a sharp-edged scoop, like a melon baller. You want to end up with a nice clean cavity.







Heat the butter and olive oil in a skillet and add the minced garlic. Saute just for a moment without browning the garlic.

Add the breadcrumbs, sprinkle in a little salt to taste and saute mixture, combining it with a spoon, for a couple of minutes.

Remove from the heat and fill the scooped out artichokes with the buttered breadcrumb mixture.

Top with a sprinkling of good quality chili powder and drizzle with a little more olive oil just before putting them in the oven.





Bake in a low-sided pan using the top third of the oven, for approximately 15 minutes until slightly browned.

Optional: Add some diced tomato to the breadcrumb mixture. Serve with chopped, fresh basil sprinkled over top.