Artichokes Stuffed with Quinoa

On Artichokes
The artichoke is one of the central objects of my existence. It’s my favorite food and has been for as long as I can remember and to me that means quite a bit. In a way I practically worship it the way ancient cultures worshiped wheat. I seek it out on every menu. I’ve spent my life experimenting with every possible way to cook it. I even considered getting an Artichoke tattoo on my belly.

Being fixated with cooking and in love with the artichoke makes for some interesting, and sometimes frustrating, experiences. It’s not like being in love with the beet or the potato (both of which I’m very fond of). The artichoke proves quite a challenge every time you try a new technique of cooking it. After all there’s just as many ways to make it inedible as there are to make it edible.

On Quinoa
I am not a hippie nor a vegetarian. In fact I eat meat at pretty much every meal. I didn’t want to like quinoa. When someone tells me that there’s a grain out there that you can eat pretty much on it’s own for a meal and get everything you need my response is “Why the hell would you want to do that?”. After all variety is the spice of life and definitely the spice of the culinary world (actually I suppose spice is the spice of the culinary world but that just sort of drives my point home).

But the fact is, despite my reluctance, I do like quinoa. In fact I like it quite a bit. I like it’s chewy texture and slightly tangy taste. I like that a basic Quinoa salad can be eaten just as well either hot or cold and yes, despite myself, I like that this basic salad, eaten on it’s own for lunch, will leave me totally sated.

Stuffed Artichokes
If I was somehow in the position to have a signature dish the stuffed artichoke would be it. I’ve made it over a hundred times with probably just as many variations.

My father and step-mother were big foodies before the term foodie existed. I began teaching myself to cook shortly after I moved out in order to replicate all the amazing things I’d eat with them. One of the first of these things was the stuffed artichokes I used to get at Il Fornaio in Corte Madera.

Originally I based my recipes off the ones from that restaurant. The stuffing from these was based around the use of high quality bread chunks placed in just the cavity of the artichoke as opposed to the traditional roman way with bread crumbs between all the leaves. Recently however I’ve developed an allergy to wheat and can no longer eat the bread part. This put a major crimp in my style.

I’ve tried wild rice and glutton free bread to varying degrees of success. I figured, with my new conversion to Quinoa, maybe a marriage could be made.

The Results
In the end. The marriage was successful if not harmonious. It was a decent meal for two, both components came out nice on there own, but in the end it wasn’t quite what it could have been. When using bread somehow the juices from the stuffing manage to seep a little into the artichoke leaving the meat of the heart with a pleasant garlicky, herbal flavor. For some reason this never works with any of the substitutes I’ve tried. Perhaps rice and quinoa somehow keep more of the flavor to themselves. Who knows.



I’ve included the recipe for the bread stuffing as well as the quinoa one:

2 Medium to Large Artichokes (preferably organic they’re much better)

1 cup quinoa any color (I prefer red!)
½ onion sliced
3 gloves garlic minced
1 medium carrot sliced
1 cup sliced crimini mushrooms
2 sprigs thyme
2 ribs celery sliced
½ pepper chopped
1 tomato chopped
¼ cup olive oil
½ cup some sort of wine vinager (I like champagne vinager but any type will do)
About 8 oz. blue chees

Prepping the Artichokes
Cut off the top 1/3 of the artichokes and the stem so it’s pretty much flush with the base of the vegetable. It’s good to err on the side of cutting less of the stem off than more as you don’t want them to come apart when you stuff them later.

Boil or steam the artichokes for about 25 minutes in a large stock pot or dutch oven. The simple rule to seeing if an artichoke is done is to use tongs and pull on the lowest leaves if they come off without any resistance there done. For this recipe it’s better to have them a little underdone since they cook more later when you put them in the oven.

Stuffing

1. Rinse quinoa thoroughly using either a very fine strainer or a courser one lined with a paper towel or coffee filter.

2. In a medium size dutch heat 1 Tbsp. olive oil over medium heat until shimmering. Add onions and cook stirring often until onions just begin to brown. Add garlic and saute until just fragrant, about 30 seconds. Mix in quinoa then two cups water. Bring to a boil then lower the heat to a simmer. Cook until all the water is gone or at least until the quinoa tastes done. About 15 to 20 minutes.

3. While quinoa is cooking saute mushrooms in a large pan with ½ Tbs. olive oil until just starting to turn brown. Add another ½ Tbs. oil to pan along with green garlic and carrots. Saute until the green garlic just starts to get brown stripes on it, about 2 minutes. Stir in leaves from one sprig of thyme. When quinoa is done add this mixture to it.

4. Mix together in a small bowl the olive oil vinegar and remaining thyme. Stir into the quinoa.

5. Mix into the quinoa mixture the peppers, celery, tomatoes and cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Putting the Artichokes Together

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Once the artichokes are done cooking drain them in a colander and put them under cold running water. When there cool enough to handle use our hands or a spoon to remover the spikey purple leaves and the choke. I prefer to use my hands to pull out the inner leaves then push out the choke with my thumb. A lot of people prefer to use a spoon which works well also just be careful not to scoop up too much of the heart with the choke.

3. Stuff the cavity of the artichoke fairly full. Be careful not to break the them open. Set aside any extra stuffing.

4. Arrange the artichokes in a medium size baking sheet. Place a small sliver of the remaining cheese on top of each one. Sprinkle extra stuffing around the bottom of the pan using it to help keep the artichokes upright.

5. Place them in the oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes. The cheese should melt and form a crust.

Serve with dipping sauce, mayonnaise or a simple vinaigrette if desired

Bread Stuffing
4 cloves of garlic coarsely chopped
Kernals from 1 ear of fresh corn
¼ Bulb of fresh Fennel, ¼ Red Onion or ¼ Leeks
1 Green Onion Chopped
1 Cups French or Italian bread cut into 2 inch Squares
1 Medium tomatoe chopped
Blue Cheese or parmesan
¼ cup Olive Oil
½ cup Red Wine Viniger

Making the Stuffing
1. While the artichokes are cooking heat butter until foaming subsides then add half the garlic, the fennel (or red onion or leek). Sauté ingredients together shaking pan a few times until a few pieces of corn start to get dark spots on them. Remove from heat and set aside.

2. In a large mixing bowl mix together bread cubes, tomatoes, remaining garlic, 1/3 of the cheese, green onions, corn mixture oil and vinegar. Salt and pepper it to taste.