Deep-fried artichokes
( Carciofi pastellati e fritti )

Recipe for deep-fried artichokes in batter

Preparation and cooking

• - Prepare batter.
  Shell one egg in a bowl, add chives, a pinch of salt and pepper, if you like.
  Whip vigorously with a fork until frothy.
  Pour in olive oil, gradually sift in flour and stir more vigorously.
  Your batter must be smooth, without lumps.
  Cover and let it rest for at least an hour.
• - Prepare artichokes.
  After an hour, clean artichokes and cut into segments to have eight pieces each.
  Plunge them directly into your batter to prevent blackening and stir thoroughly.
  As you will see batter will be just enough to cover artichokes slices with a thin layer.
  But this is the ideal batter amount to make perfect deep-fried artichokes.
  If you increase batter amount, this involves more ingredients with an excessive overload of calories and fat.
  On the other hand, these are the doses used by top chefs.
• - Frying artichokes.
  Heat plenty of peanut oil in a frying pan (the best choice would be a wok) and fry artichokes, a few at a time.
  Once browned (needed time: very few minutes), transfer them with a slotted spoon to paper towels.

Just before serving

• - Add salt and serve immediately still hot.

Note

Tips

• - I calculated doses assuming fried foods are not very digestible: an artichoke per head.
• - It's better non to have deep-fried artichokes left, they are definitely more indigestible!

Menu planning

• - Serve deep-fried artichokes as appetizer, in an assorted antipasto plate with salami and cheeses or as side dish.
• - The photo was taken by my husband when I served deep-fried artichokes to accompany citrus-flavored amberjack. In the same plate hot cherry peppers stuffed with tuna and anchovies too! (links below)
• - Artichokes cooked in this way accompany salmon, tuna, swordfish and many other varieties of fish very well.
• - Choose fried artichokes as a side dish for meat recipes. I find them delicious with grilled lamb or pork chops and veal or beef roast. On the contrary I avoid them with stewed meat.

Useful links for this recipe

• - Interested in recipes for citrus-flavored amberjack or method to prepare red hot cherry peppers in oil?
• - If you want to know anything more about nutritional value and interesting combination of artichokes, read the page we dedicated to them.

Healthy eating

• - I calculated nutrition facts in this case without considering the fry. There are all the ingredients except peanut oil used for frying. It's very difficult to calculate nutrition facts of fried foods for the real amount of frying oil, used in this cooking method.
  This recipe is low in calories and fat only apparently. To get an idea of ​​total calories and fats, including the fry, add about 150 kCal per every 100 grams of fried product.
  Have you understand the reason why I have considered only an artichoke per head?
• - Note the rules of an healthy diet also recommend not to abuse of fried foods. If you like to eat sometimes fried food do it at home and change the frying oil every time.
• - The experts suggest to help digestion and control its high fat to accompany all fried foods with fresh radishes.

Loretta

What's the right wine for " Deep-fried artichokes "?

Don't match wine (especially red wines) with artichokes. This combination often gives bad results. Choose a beer if you don't want to give up alcoholic beverage.