Thursday, May 20, 2010

Vegetarian Feast :: Crisp Fried Artichoke and Lemon Wheels with Spiced Fennel salt





Crisp Fried Artichoke and Lemon Wheels with Spiced Fennel salt
Serves 4-6

24 baby artichokes, trimmed
3 Meyer lemons, sliced into thin rounds, seeds removed
1 cup all purpose flour
2 quarts vegetable oil for frying
Salt and Red Pepper flakes
Chopped Parsley
Grated parmesan (optional)
Fennel salt

Pour the oil in to a heavy pot and place over high heat. When the oil reaches 250 degrees, lower the heat.

Fry the artichokes in batches for 3-4 minutes until they soften, remove one and cool briefly, then see if the leaves will separate easily.

Drain the artichokes and cool. Gently spread the leaves from each artichoke to form a flower.
Raise the temp and bring the oil to 360 degrees.

Fry the artichoke flowers in batches 2-3 minutes until golden and crisp. Drain and sprinkle with fennel salt, chili flakes and parmesan if desired.

Dredge the lemon slices in flower and fry until golden and crisp.

Fennel Salt
1 tablespoon coarse sea salt or kosher salt
2 teaspoons fennel seed, lightly toasted and coarsely ground
1/4 teaspoon black peppercorns, lightly toasted and coarsely ground

In a bowl, stir together the salt, fennel seed, and pepper.

10 comments:

  1. Wow, those look beautiful and delicious, might just have to make some for a pot luck i am going to!

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  2. hi karen, i was so luckily in attendance that eve. i remember you mentioning the incredibly talented someone who made the artichoke recipe cards. what was her name again? thanks again for everything.

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  3. Wow. My brain hurts. This looks amazing:)

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  4. I just planted my artichokes (nine plants this year). When they're ready I'll be sure to give this a try.

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  5. When the recipe says trim the artichoke, is it just tripping and not removing the choke? do you keep the choke in and hope that people eat around it? I am just curious because I always remove it before cooking my artichokes. I look forward to hearing the answer because I cannot wait to try this at home.
    I love the blog and was so happy to see this post after the little hiatus because I am a veggie :)
    -Pam

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  6. I obviously meant trimming in the above question ;)

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  7. hi jenny ! the stationary was done by Eve Legris, as I mentioned in the first post - but I will be doing a full post about Eve's work soon. thanks !

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  8. Hi Anonymous - because these are baby artichokes, the entire heart is edible- so all you need to do is trim the outer leaves off until you get to the softer interior. good luck with the recipe!

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  9. yay! i've been looking forward to seeing the photos you took! thank you once again for such a wonderful evening- everything was perfect...

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