Marinated Artichokes

A couple of weeks ago I took the harvest from two artichoke plants. Home grown artichokes, at least the ones I grow, are not as large and imposing as the sort grown in Brittany (and California) on farms dedicated to their production and tend to become tougher sooner but picked young they are still a worthwhile and delicious crop.

In an attempt to preserve some of the goodness for enjoying later in the summer these were marinaded in the jar, soaking up garlic, lemon and oil, making them ideal for adding to pizzas, sandwiches and as a salad garnish.

They are a bit tedious to prepare and if you're not aggressive enough with the trimming you may leave some tough bits behind which will detract from the finished product.

Pick your artichokes before they are much more than 5cm in diameter, keep a short stem as on young flowers the stem can be trimmed and eaten too.

Recipe:

Baby artichokes with short stems, enough to fill 1/2 litre jar after prep.
Salt
10 ml Lemon Juice (for precooking)

Marinade:
60 ml lemon juice
60 ml oil, light flavoured or olive or mix
120 ml 5% cider or white wine vinegar
2 cloves of garlic, large slivers (about 6 pieces)
1 green chilli pepper if liked
1.5 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
10 ml balsamico

Prepare artichokes, trim off tough outer lower bracts, peel stem, cut off top and discard. Tiny ones can be left whole, larger ones must be halved or quartered and checked for choke - remove if necessary.

Add salt and 10 ml juice to pan with prepared artichokes and add just enough clean water to cover. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes until artichokes are tender. Drain.

Pack into warm sterile jar whilst still hot.

Mix the marinade ingredients together in non-metallic saucepan and bring to a boil, pour over artichokes in jar tucking chilli and garlic down the sides with a clean spoon. Top up with boiling water if necessary. Seal with lid while hot.

Allow to cool, keep in fridge for 10 days, then use as required. Will keep for a few weeks in the cold, for longer storage they will need hot water bath processing after packing.