Artichoke heart pasta

I wanted to try some new stuff for a change, and as soon as I found these baby artichokes in the vegetable market, I started planning a dish with them. Before now, I have never cook with artichokes, and even eaten them very rarely. I was curious though, and started reading and watching YouTube videos about how to prepare and cook them. That was very useful, and I decided to keep the dish simple trying to get the artichokes to play the main part.

It was a really lovely pasta, and I will certainly cook with artichokes again. After the prep everything was very quick. And I didn't mind the excess petals either, as I could discard them into my new food recycling bin.

On the same day I also detected some wood sorrel in the market, and had to buy it. I used it here as a little garnish. It can be a bit bitter, so I didn't want to add too much of it. Back in the day I always ate wood sorrel in the forest with my granddad when it started coming to season and I would recognise the plant in my sleep. Are you familiar with this quaint plant? 

Artichoke heart pasta

Ingredients

8 baby artichokes

2 fresh shallots

2 garlic cloves

1 lemon´s juice

25 g butter

1 tsp sea salt

Penne pasta

Wood sorrel as garnish (optional)

Method

Prepare the artichokes by removing the hard outer petals and by peeling the stalk so that there's only the soft heart left.

Chop the shallots and garlic finely and start frying them in the butter.

Start cooking the pasta.

Soon also add the artichoke hearts and the lemon juice.

Fry the artichokes so that they brown a bit, then add some of the pasta cooking water to the artichokes and let them simmer under the lid for a few minutes until tender.

Add the pasta to the pan and season the mix with salt.

Serve and enjoy!

I want to share this recipe with Shaheen, who is hosting Eat Your Greens this month, mainly because I used for me a unique green combined with the very familiar one as garnish.

Enjoy your weekend!

Your VegHog