Helen RandellArtichoke carbonara
September 16th 2009 11:59
With so much fresh produce on offer, it is hard not to be inspired by the Willunga Farmers Market. And when Salvatore Pepe, former owner of Cibo Restaurante is cooking with these wonderful ingredients - well as you might imagine I was hooked.
Drawing on his Calabrian roots, Salvatore produced a delicious artichoke carbonara, using the produce available at the market. I bought a couple of artichoke on my way home and this is my version of the dish.
A couple things I learnt from Salvatore:
Peel back the artichoke leaves until you get to the layer where you can see the white part of the leaves. You then want to peel the artichoke stalk and chop off and discard the top half of the artichoke heart as this can be stringy and bitter. At this point it is a good idea to place the artichoke in a bowl of water and lemon juice to prevent discolouring. When cooking artichoke, it is best to do so for a longer time, over a low heat.
Artichoke Carbonara
250g spaghetti
olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 artichoke, prepared as above and the chopped into small pieces
2 mushrooms, chopped
2 rashers bacon, chopped
1 egg
50g parmesan cheese, finely grated (other hard cheese is also fine to use)
Cook spaghetti as per packet instructions.
Heat a little olive oil in a pan and slowly cook onion and artichoke. It will take about 15-20 minutes until it is nicely softened. About 5 minutes into this cooking, add mushrooms and bacon. Stir occasionally to prevent burning.
In a bowl, lightly whisk the egg and add grated cheese, stirring through. Once the pasta is almost cooked add a little of the water from the pasta to the egg mixture - around about 1-2 tbspns, this will cook the egg slightly and make the mixture nice and creamy.
Drain pasta, add artichoke mixture and stir through. Add egg mixture and stir through, the heat from the pasta will cook the egg. Serve with some shaved parmesan and crusty bread.
You could try this with tinned artichokes, though obviously they will not need to be cooked in the same way. This dish could also be made without the bacon as there is plenty of flavour to be found from the other ingredients.
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Comment by FoodMage
Thanks, I love your recipes and your Salvatore Pepe sounds like a great chef.
Janice
Comment by Helen Randell
Rough Cooking
My mum was going to take a tin of artichokes away with her this week to make this one - I'm sure it will turn out great.
Thanks for your comments.
Comment by FoodMage
I'd love to take a trip to California, they grow some of the biggest artichokes I've ever seen, huge! and cheap.
Keep writing, I love it.
Janice