The First Artichokes of the Season

Monday = market day in Selami Çeşme!

So earlier this week despite a rather fearful sky, off I set. Would there be any signs of spring in terms of produce,  I wondered or was it still a bit early?

After all those carrots and potatoes, onions and leeks, it did the heart good to spy piles of  enginar or artichokes. These are a real treat here as the hearts, sold in plastic bags containing acidulated water to stop them discolouring, are beautifully cleaned and prepared on the spot ready for cooking.  They are graded and priced according to size.  The biggest and best today were 2.50 TL each: about £1 so not given away. Apparently these early ones are coming in from N. Cyprus ie where the climate is milder. Later the bayrampaşa ones will make an appearance and they are magnificent both in size and flavour. It is still very much early days.

anyone for artichokes?

Occasionally  I fly against tradition and buy the artichokes whole. Then I boil them and we eat them with a sharp vinaigrette of olive oil and lemon juice mixed with French mustard, sucking each leaf tip one by one, the heart the tantalizing jewel in the crown to be eaten with a knife and fork after pulling out the spiky choke.  It’s a bit of a process: this way is definitely not Turkish!

Turkish-style is zeytinyağlı or done in olive oil, filled with chopped potatoes, carrots, and peas. This is the mix you find everywhere and the veg is cubed. Or perhaps broad beans once they are in season which is any minute now.  I like this slightly different presentation that Alev Kaman describes in her book Modern Türk Mutfağı: instead of peas, there are little pearl onions, and  the potato is shaped into beautiful globes with the help of a melon scoop. A sprig of fresh dill sets the dish off perfectly and makes enginar an ideal starter. We find the taste just exquisite.

I also like the look of little hearts done in the same way when they are one of several meze. Big ones are better on their own. One of my friends rebelled against the traditional filling a couple of years ago and substituted shrimps instead! Which of course works very well but again, not Turkish.

Ingredients for Zeytinyağlı Enginar or Artichokes done in Olive Oil

Serves 8

8 artichoke hearts

2 carrots

2 potatoes

16 pearl onions

½  cup olive oil

2 tbsp flour

3 cups hot water

Juice of 1 lemon

4 sugar lumps

1 tsp salt

Sprigs of fresh dill to decorate

afiyet olsun!

Method

·         The artichoke hearts will discolour if left too long. Prepare the carrots: chop into small pieces and then using a melon scoop, scoop out balls of potato, trying to keep the rounded shape as well as possible. Peel  the onions and leave whole.

·         Pour the olive oil into the pan. Using a wooden spoon, add the flour and stir. Add the 3 cups hot water, salt, sugar, and lemon juice. When the liquid begins to boil, add the potatoes, carrot, onion and artichoke hearts. Cover the pan with lid. Cook for 30 mins on medium heat. Then lower heat and cook for a further 20 mins. Leave in the pan to cool.

·         To Serve: place the artichoke hearts on the serving dish and distribute the cooked vegetables in each.

·         Decorate with the sprigs of dill. Serve at room temperature.

Tips

·         I have seen nice little airtight bags of prepared rounds of  carrots, onions, and potatoes in the main supermarkets eg Carrefour, which would speed things up in the kitchen.

I don’t know how many of you can view this post. If you can, it is thanks to my sister Alison in California who is posting for me. The ban in Turkey is still on as I write. The advice I have been given is to hang on for the moment. Followers in Turkey may be able to see my blog/other blogspot blogs if they use an unblocking website first eg www.unblocked.org . Right now, I can’t comment on my own blog, I mean physically my comments don’t go through. But yours can! Hopefully the ban will be lifted very soon and we can all go back to our lovely blogging world.