Tuesday, December 4, 2007

#73: Wild Artichokes


These wild artichokes listed as #73 on Food & Wine's 100 Tastes to Try in 2007 was the hardest thing for me to get a hold of. They can be purchases at Zingerman's but they were sold out for most of the year. But I FINALLY got them!

A small jar costs $20. As soon as I got them I cracked opened the jar and took a bite. Um, not what I expected. I LOVE artichokes but these tasted very EARTHY. You can tell that these are no machine processed artichokes. Some of the small fibrous pieces were still attached. It looks like they were hand trimmed. And with the strong organic taste, I was not impressed.

Today my opinion changed. I read something that suggested pairing these artichokes with liver. I didn't have any liver (nor do I like it) but I did have some liverwurst! I sliced the artichokes and then pan fried them. What a difference! I'd put these sauteed artichokes on anything - they are so good. I had them with some fresh tomatoes, slices of liverwurst and lots of salt. It was a REALLY yummy lunch.


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