Artichokes are a winter vegetable in the Mediterranean diet with a reputation for being healthy. However, here we are more interested in their culinary virtues, in their slightly bitter nutty taste that makes them delicious and special.

Their physical appearance is also special and, at first, artichokes can baffle inexperienced non-Mediterranean home cooks.

Truth be told, I remember being put off once by artichokes that I saw in a Ghent grocery store. They seemed completely inedible to me. They were huge and brownish-green in color, the leaves were open and hollow to the touch, and as dry as if they had been exposed to the desert sun for weeks. Now you know what an artichoke shouldn’t look like when you buy it.

Those Belgian artichokes could hardly be called flowers. In fact, flowers are what we eat. They are the edible part of the artichoke plant, or more accurately, the unopened flower head of this enigmatic thistle plant.

Let’s clear things up. When buying artichokes, choose the compact and well packaged ones. The leaves must be closed, or they are too old and useless to cook any decent Mediterranean artichoke-based dish. A little darkening on the outer sheets is not a big deal, but accept just a little bit. Artichokes shouldn’t feel too light in your hands either; this is another sign that they were harvested too long ago.

Artichokes in the Mediterranean landscape

Artichokes are indigenous to the Mediterranean basin and each spring their deep blue and purple colors sprout in the Mediterranean fields. Along with wild asparagus and mushrooms, green and purple artichokes are used in a variety of dishes that connect us with a Mediterranean cuisine understood as the landscape in a pan, the motto of Catalan cuisine and the motto of my website, as my readers.

In my homeland, Mediterranean Catalonia, we really like these three plant foods, and we have many traditional dishes that use them. I don’t know about wild mushrooms, but artichokes and asparagus are considered aphrodisiacs, which makes artichokes even more attractive.

Now you can find acceptable artichokes all winter long, but spring is when they are at their best. In the northern Mediterranean, artichokes are harvested from February to March. In the southern Mediterranean, the harvest lasts longer, starting in December or even November.

Some food ideas with artichokes

Simply boiling them in water with a pinch of salt and a pinch of vinegar is the quickest and easiest method. In this case, do not use an aluminum or iron pot, because they turn an ugly dark color.

You can sauté them, stuff them with rice or shrimp, grill them, and roast them in the oven. For lovers of raw vegetables, the heart leaves, certain varieties of small purple artichokes can be eaten raw in a salad.

One recipe that I find particularly delicious is artichoke rice. Its slight bitter taste and the sweetness of the rice create a surprising contrast. An artichoke omelette is another great culinary idea, and in some coastal and champagne-producing regions south of Barcelona, ​​it often accompanies an excellent traditional salad called xato.

Combined with chicken or rabbit, artichokes are also extraordinary. If you like to blacken the rice in your paella, add some artichokes and beans. But roasting artichokes outdoors is unsurpassed in its simplicity. It is an open-air celebration, another excuse to “go to the grill” with your friends, as they say in the Catalan region that surrounds the river Ebro (Ebro), about 200 km south of Barcelona.

Generously season the whole artichokes with extra virgin olive oil and a little salt, and put them on the grill. Traditionally, while you are busy eating the meat on the grill, the artichokes are cooked on the grill. Once they are cooked, tear off the burnt outer leaves and eat the tender ones and the delicious heart, where the olive oil has been concentrated.

Here’s another simple artichoke dish suitable for preparing outdoors: do your best to get traditional little purple artichokes, remove some outer leaves, cut the artichokes in half lengthwise, drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil, Sprinkle a little salt and cook on the grill. Toast two slices of rustic bread and put the grilled artichokes in the middle. You won’t believe how delicious it is until you try it.

The downside of artichokes

Sommeliers find artichokes very frustrating. The taste of artichokes is so persistent, and it lasts so long in the mouth that they cannot find any suitable wine for them.

I admit that every time I eat grilled artichokes I commit a sin. I marry them with a strong red like Priorat or an unpretentious house red, although I know it breaks the laws of wine connoisseurs. But that’s what people did before sommeliers had a voice, so … after all, there are no downsides to artichokes.