Photograph courtesy of Herbivoracious Michael Natkin of Herbivoracious was so enamored with his meal at The Pink Door, a classic Seattle Italian restaurant, that he decided to make his own spaghetti with fresh artichokes at home. This looks restaurant-worthy to us....
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I live in San Francisco, so let's be honest: it's not like I just survived through a long, hard winter. Not as long and hard as some of you have. Through the shortest days, we still have lettuces and citrus, year-round markets, and quite a variety of fruits and vegetables. But even the heartiest locavores among us get a little weary of butternut squash and stored apples and canned tomatoes. Enter Spring.
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I am firm believer in the that if you fry anything, it's an automatic improvement. Fry something and put it in sandwich form, and you've struck gold. Nowhere is that more apparent than an hour or two south of San Francisco, in Monterrey County, the Artichoke Capital of the World, where hundreds of restaurants serve up their version of the fried artichoke sandwich. I can't imagine there's a bad fried artichoke sandwich to be had in the whole county, but my go-to stop is the Lighthouse Harbor Grill, in Moss Landing, right on Route 1. Their version is served on a ciabatta-like "Francese Roll" from Kelly's French Bakery in Santa Cruz. It's given a nice dose of balsamic vinegar...
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Mary Vuong of the Houston Chronicle says it's time we gave the thorny, meaty artichoke a chance: "An artichoke is a work of art. Home cooks often treat it as art, too. They look but are afraid to touch. But artichokes—fancy enough to star at a dinner party, easy to pop in the microwave when you're eating alone—are worth some effort. With peak season running through May, now is the perfect time to tackle the thistle." If you're up for the challenge, Vuong includes three recipes: one by Gaetano Ascione, chef de cuisine at Houston's Quattro, and two by Lidia Bastianich, both from her latest cookbook Lidia's Italy which was just published this month....
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Elise's How to Cook and Eat an Artichoke is one of my favorite tutorials, and quite timely — the peak of California artichoke season is upon us (March-May)!...
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