Frittata with artichokes – Frittata con i carciofi - Fritaja s artičokama

When I decided to cook my very first artichokes I was little scared. I didn’t know how to start cleaning these so big and so dangerous vegetables. My first artichokes were the Sardinian artichokes with so sharp thorns that can terrible hurt your fingers! So I spent my first half an hour for cleaning just four artichokes and then I do it again and again and it became so natural to me. Now I need less time to do it, but I’m still very careful when I do it, especially until I cut the thorns from the leaves and the petals.

Here are some advices for the beginners:
When buying artichokes choose the ones with the petals well closed, this is the sign that artichokes are fresh. The stem should be long and wide, so you can use it, because it’s edible too.
To avoid hurting yourself, start with Romanesco artichokes that have no thorns.
Before you start cleaning the artichokes prepare the large bowl with cold water and 2 -3 tablespoons of lemon juice or vinegar. Put cleaned and peeled artichokes into the water to avoid that the vegetable oxidize.

Use gloves if you don’t want to get your hands dyed.
Cut of the stem about 1cm under the globe and peel it with the knife. Put the pieces into the water.
Remove the external petals and peel the globe with the knife until you remove all hard parts of the globe. Cut it into two halves and remove the internal hair and thinly petals, because they can also have some small thorns. If you need entire artichokes, gently open the petals and remove the hair and central petals with the teaspoon. Fresh artichokes should have very short hair or even no hair at all. Put clean artichokes into the water.

It will take more time to clean the artichokes, then to cook them. This is incredible, but it’s true! These big vegetables are so delicate and tender inside!

FRITTATA WITH ARTICHOKES

4 artichokes
2 eggs
1 small chopped onion
salt
2 tbs olive oil
water 

Lightly heat the olive oil, add the onion and a pinch of salt and fry the onion for few minutes, then add entire artichokes and their stems reduced into pieces. Let it cook for about 30 minutes in a covered casserole and add some water from time to time. Artichokes should be soft, but not reduced to a mush and you should get some sauce too.

Whisk the eggs with another pinch of salt and pour them over the artichokes. Slightly combine the eggs with the pieces of stems, cover the casserole again and allow the eggs to harden, but don’t cook it too long, the eggs should remain soft.

La ricetta in italiano
FRITTATA CON I CARCIOFI 

4 carciofi
2 uova
1 piccola cipolla tagliata a pezzetti
sale
2 cucchiai di olio extravergine di oliva
acqua

Scaldare leggermente l’olio, aggiungere la cipolla, salare e soffriggere per qualche minuto. Aggiungere i carciofi interi e i gambi tagliati a pezzi. Cuocere per circa 30 minuti in una casseruola coperta e di tanto in tanto aggiungere un po’ d’acqua. Una volta cotti i carciofi devono risultare morbidi ma devono rimanere interi e dovrebbe rimanere del sughetto sul fondo della casseruola.

Sbattere le uova con poco sale e versarle sopra i carciofi. Mescolare le uova con i pezzetti dei gambi, coprire di nuovo la casseruola e fare cuocere per pochi minuti fino a quando le uova si saranno rassodate. Non bisogna cuocerle troppo, perché devono rimanere morbide.

Recept na Hrvatskom

FRITAJA S ARTIČOKAMA 

4 artičoke
2 jaja
1 mali luk narezan na komadiće
sol
2 žlice maslinovog ulja
voda

Lagano zagrijati ulje, dodati luk, posoliti i pržiti luk par minuta. Dodati cijele artičoke i stabljike narezane na komadiće. Dinstati oko 30 minuta u poklopljenoj posudi i svako toliko dodati malo vode. Kuhane artičoke trebaju biti mekane i ostati cijele te treba ostati malo umaka na dnu posude u kojoj su se kuhale.

Umutiti jaja s malo soli i preliti ih preko artičoka. Izmješati jaja sa komadićima stabljika, ponovo poklopiti posudu i kuhati par minuta dok se jaja ne skrute. Ne treba predugo kuhati, jaja moraju ostati mekana.