A Pint-Sized Sign of Spring

About author / Amy Powell

World traveler; gourmet 30 minute meals; lover of exotic ingredients; winner on FoodTV's Chefs vs City; graduate French Culinary Institute. Her recipes will tantalize your taste buds.

With winter coming to an official end this week, it is natural that the first signs of spring are sprouting in the vegetable aisle, albeit in miniature form. The spring vegetable triumvirate--asparagus, peas, artichokes--has one early riser amongst them likely to make an appearance the early days of warmer weather: the baby artichoke.

The baby artichoke is able to make an early showing precisely because it is an immature version of its larger, adult self. I am one of those folks raised on the whole, adult artichoke. Special late spring dinners would revolve around steamed artichokes and their array of dipping sauces. We reveled in the time consuming processes of dipping the spiny leaves in melted butter and scraping the pulp off leaf by leaf with our teeth.

To those full leaf eaters, the baby artichokes may disappoint as these leaves are not made for dipping. But if you were in the camp that enjoyed the leaves but the real treat lay in the meaty heart, the baby artichoke is your early supplier. With the greater proportion of stem and center to leaves than the grown up version, artichoke heart lovers will adore the payoff of prepping the babies.

Beware, like any real baby, baby artichokes require a lot of time and care. First the outer leaves must be removed. Depending on the stage of maturity, you may have to go down quite a ways, all the way until the moss green of the outer leaves is replaced with the greenish-yellow of the tender inner leaves. Next, those nasty tips must be cut off with a paring knife, remove at least a half inch here to avoid any surprise thorny ends while eating. Then gently, along the bottom, use a paring knife to peel away the thick skin of the stem.

Cut in half lengthwise, the baby artichoke should be nothing more than tender leaves and lots of heart at this point, arguably the best parts of any artichoke.

I’m not going to mess around with lots of ways to cook them. There is a best way, and it involves a healthy amount of olive oil. Not quite deep frying, not quite poaching, these little artichokes do well with a long sit over medium heat with oil that comes about half way up the sides. After 8-10 minute per side, the heart is tender to the touch of a knife and the leaves melt and darken to a nice golden brown. They can be stored in the fridge at this point for use in everything from salad to pizza topping, or served up right away, piping hot with a sprinkling of salt and a squeeze of lemon.

If you are wondering what to serve with these delicious little guys, take a piece of advice: keep it simple. You’ve already spent enough time on the artichokes, a straightforward main course it all they need. Dust a white fish, like sole, with flour and pan-fry it. Sprinkle the fish with capers and parsley. Serve it up with a few of the artichokes and lemon wedges for a light dinner that tastes of spring. For those who can’t wait to get a start on spring eating, in the case of artichokes, good things do come in small packages.

Serves/Makes: 4

• 10 baby artichokes
• 2 lemons
• olive oil
• salt and pepper
• lemon wedges