OH! Magazine - Australian Version October 2016 | Page 22

( OH YUM )

PHOODIE’S AGINARES
Food blogger Phoodie shares a classic recipe from her Greek 'yaya'.
If you are not familiar with this dish, the best way to eat it is to peel the leaves/petals, one by one, from the
outside moving in, and one leaf at a time by removing the delicious flesh from the base of each leaf with your
teeth. Don’t eat the outer leaves, as they are too tough; but as you move closer to the heart you will feel the
leaves becoming more tender so you can eat those in their entirety and – of course – you can completely
devour the heart, when you get to it!

What you’ll need:
4 artichokes
3 to 4 lemons
¾ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
salt and pepper to taste
½ teaspoon dried oregano
2 large cloves garlic,
chopped into pieces

Makes: 4

How to make it:
1. Fill the sink or a large bowl, with cold tap water.
2. To prepare the artichokes, first cut the stems off. Peel them as you would a carrot.
This can be done with a vegetable peeler or better still, with a small sharp knife. You
want to make sure you are removing all the stringy, rough outer layers. Once peeled,
chop stalks into four pieces each, rub with cut lemon and place in cold water.
3. Now we move on to the body of the artichoke. On each artichoke, with a small sharp
knife, peel away a few of the tough, bottom layers of leaves. You want to take away
any torn, dark, super hard leaves to reveal the base of the heart. Once you have done
this, still using your small, sharp knife, tidy the area where the stalk used to connect
and then horizontally chop off the TOP half of the artichoke so that you are left with
the base of all leaves, with the lemon.
4. One at a time, as you prep the artichokes and stems, make sure to rub everything
with a lemon wedge before placing it in the water to prevent discolouration.
5. When all of the artichokes and stems have been prepped, fill a large saucepan with
fresh water and transfer everything from the sink into the pot. Boil until artichokes
are tender. This typically takes about 30 minutes but you will know they are ready
when they fall easily off a wooden skewer when it is inserted.
6. Drain (and cool) artichokes and stems on the side of the sink and prepare the
dressing.
7. In a jar, combine the oil, salt, pepper, oregano, garlic and the rind of one lemon.
Shake jar to mix dressing.
8. You can either serve these already dressed on individual plates or all tog ether on a
platter. Choose which way you are going to serve them and then squeeze a decent
amount of lemon juice over each one, before spooning generous amounts of garlic
dressing over each artichoke and the stems.
9. Serve (warm, room temperature or cold) with lots of crusty bread and plenty of
serviettes, and most importantly – ENJOY!

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OH! MAGAZINE (OCTOBER 2016)