Carciofi trifolati
Artichokes cooked in oil with garlic and parsley
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- 4 artichokes (800 g - 1lb and 12 1/4oz) or 6, if little-size
- Half a lemon
- Bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
- 250 ml (8 3/4fl oz - 1C) vegetable stock
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- Salt
- Pepper, if liked
- Time:
preparation: 20 minutes
cooking: 20 minutes
total time: 40 minutes - Difficulty:
easy recipe - Nutrition Facts (amount per serving):
Calories: 77 (kCal) - 320 (kJ)
Protein: 4.0 (g)
Total fat: 5.3 (g)
Total carbohydrate: 3.4 (g)
Sugars: 2.6 (g)
Artichokes cooked in oil with garlic and parsley (trifolati in Italian) is a quick and easy-to-do side dish but at the same time, very tasty and, not less important, low-calorie recipe.
In addition, artichokes cooked in oil with garlic and parsley is a recipe suitable for vegetarian and vegan people.
You'll need
very few ingredients to make this artichoke recipe: 4 large or 6 medium artichokes, preferably fresh flat-leaf parsley, 1 garlic clove, half a lemon to squeeze into the water where you'll soak the artichokes once cleaned, vegetable broth needed for cooking and good-quality olive oil.
Here's the recipe of artichokes cooked in oil with garlic and parsley!
Prepare the other ingredients. Peel the garlic clove.
Clean, wash and chop the parsley. Eventually set aside some whole leaves if you want to garnish your dish.
Prepare the broth.
Prepare the artichokes. Clean the artichokes and cut into segments to have eight pieces from each.
Immediately plunge the segments into the water where you've squeezed the half lemon.
Please, leave a piece of stem attached as you can see in the picture.
If you want more instructions about artichoke cleaning, please consult our members-only area. There you'll be able to find step-by-step instructions to clean artichokes and a lot of photos on these steps.
The last step: the cooking. Let the garlic brown in olive oil over on very gentle heat for few minutes, stirring frequently. Meanwhile, drain the artichokes very well.
Turn off the cooker. Remove the garlic and add the artichokes.
Turn on the cooker again and cook the artichokes on a high flame for a few minutes to dry. Remember to stir often. Now add a couple of ladles hot broth and parsley. Season with salt and pepper, if liked. Stir and continue cooking until the cooking juice is well reduced (estimated time: 15 minutes). Add more hot broth if necessary.
But keep
in mind cooking times depend a lot on your personal taste and artichoke size.
Your artichoke dish is ready to serve. If you want, you can sprinkle the dish with very finely chopped parsley just before serving.
Note
- - This artichoke recipe we've just described is made with vegetable broth and not with wine. Matching wine with artichokes often gives bad results.
- - We prefer artichokes with thorny leaves to make this recipe.
- - If you don't like garlic don't worry! Brown a little young onion instead of garlic.
- - This artichoke side dish may accompany meat (with no tomato sauce according to us), fish (baked or boiled or steamed), eggs and cheeses
Healthy eating
- - Artichokes cooked in oil with garlic and parsley is a complete and interesting dish as you can see reading its nutrition facts. First of all it is a very low calorie dish. Then it isn't rich in fat and sugars and so is ideal for everybody.
But you must be very careful on the amount of fat in cooking. A tablespoon oil is more than enough as long as you use a good non-stick pan. Don't increase the amount of oil. There are 90 kcal and 10 g additional fat in every tablespoon oil. We mean a tablespoon as the spoon with which you eat your soup.
- - Please, keep in mind artichokes are rich in water and fiber too.
- - The artichokes have a lot of cynarin too. It is located especially in the pulp of the leaves but also in dried leaves and stems. Cynarin increases the bile production, makes easy the digestion, helps the liver function, lowers HDL/LDL ratio. This reduces cholesterol levels which diminishes the risk for arteriosclerosis and coronary heart disease.
What's the right wine ?
Please, don't match wine with artichokes.
The author Loretta Sebastiani lives in Italy (IT)
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