I have so many fond memories of these. I remember going to the grocery with my mom and hoping that she would grab one from the deli counter at zuppardos. I remember one time she bought 2 of them. One for her, my sister and I to eat on during the day and another for when my dad came home from work. If you’re not from the area or haven’t had one of these; you owe it to yourself to make this. This is so very simple, only a bit time consuming.
You’ll need:
2 artichokes for 4 people as an appetizer
Panko bread crumb
Italian bread crumb
Parm cheese
Garlic
Lemon
Basil
Parsley
Oregano
Good olive oil
Take the artichoke and cut the bottom flat, then remove the bottom layer of leaves. Cut the top off, even about 1/3 of the way down. Remove the purple flower from the inside.
Take your hands and open the artichoke up then braise it in water, olive oil, garlic and lemon. Let it braise on low heat until tender/ usually 45 minutes to an hour.
In a bowl combine all other ingredients using equal parts Panko and Italian bread crumb and equal parts total bread crumb to parm cheese, the juice of one lemon and olive oil. You want the consistency of wet sand.
When the choke is tender remove from braising liquid and let it dry upside down.
Open the leaves up more and stuff with breadcrumb mixture and top with a lemon slice.
At this point you can return it to a Dutch oven with half an inch of liquid or you can put it in a 400 degree oven. Either way you want to cook it for about 15-20 minutes until the leaves remove with little to no pressure.