Torta di Carciofi

For me spring means artichokes and asparagus.  So let's tackle the thornier one.  It must have taken a hungry or ingenious person to first eat an artichoke.  Historians generally agree that artichokes, one of the oldest cultivated vegetables (as early as the fifth century BC), started somewhere around the Mediterranean, most likely Sicily or Northern Africa. As member of the Asteraceae family, with cousins of sunflower, dandelion, ragweed, and wormwood, an artichoke is an improved version of the Cardoon which people also ate but preferred their stems to their smaller and pricklier buds.

The Greeks have a myth for the creation of the plant suggesting their very creation is wrapped up in concupiscence. According to Aegean legend, the first artichoke was a lovely young girl, Cynara, who lived on the island of Zinari. Zeus was visiting his brother Poseidon when, as he emerged from the sea, spied a beautiful young mortal woman, and seduced her.  He was so pleased with the girl that he decided to make her a goddess so that she could be nearer to his home on Olympia.  Cynara agreed and Zeus anticipated the trysts to come whenever Hera was away.  Cynara soon grew homesick and snuck back to the world of mortals for a visit.  Zeus discovered this un-goddess like behavior.  Enraged, he hurled her back to earth and transformed her into the plant we now know as the artichoke.  So a horny Zeus made a thorny plant?

North African Moors begin cultivating artichokes in the area of Granada, Spain, and another Arab group, the Saracens, became identified with artichokes in Sicily.  This may explain why the English word artichoke is derived from the Arab, “al’qarshuf” rather than from the Latin, “cynara”.  Since the Italians have eaten them for 25 centuries let's return to The Pleasures of Cooking, this time Vol II no. 6 for an article entitled Italian Ways with Artichokes by Margaret and Franco Romagnoli.   Warning, there's a lot of work ahead.

The torta pictured measures 8x8 inches so depending on what you have to bake it in you'll may need to adjust quantities.  Additions are welcome, I've added dry cure black olives in the past, but this time added mushrooms, nothing fancy just buttons or creminis.  I also like to add chopped parsley and some thyme.  Below are a few pictures of the artichoke transformation from softball sized flower buds to pie filling.

Recipe

Ingredients:

4 medium or 3 large artichokes (I had 3 huge ones)

1 onion cut into slivers

olive oil

salt

3 1/2 inch slices of rustic bread, crusts removed

1/2 cup milk

2 large eggs for the filling plus one more to egg wash the crust

5 T grated Parmesan (double that if your using a microplaner)

8 oz whole milk ricotta cheese

1 recipe of Old-Fashioned Flaky Pie Dough (the link takes you to the Serious Eats website and their recipe, but I cheated and subbed out 2 or 3 T of butter with lard)

Method:

First up start the pie dough.

Cube the bread, place in the bowl of a food processor and add the milk.

Next up pare the artichokes. That shouldn't take more than a minute, here's proof.

Now sauté the onion in the olive oil until translucent.

Add the cut up artichokes with a big pinch of salt and some lemon or white wine, cover and steam/sauté for about 15 minutes until tender. Set aside to cool.

Add any herbs and extras such as sautéed mushrooms or pitted black olives.

Add 2 eggs, the parmesan and a 1/2 teaspoon of salt to the soaked bread and whack it up.

Add the ricotta and process until just combined.

Fold in the cooled artichokes. Hey we're done with the filling.

Roll the pastry, fill, roll the top, crimp the edges to seal.

I use an egg wash made of a beaten egg, a small pinch of salt and a very small splash of water.  Let it rest at least 20 minutes in the frig.  Bake at 400 degrees F. for about 50 minutes.

Eat and enjoy!