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Did you ever see an artichoke so beautiful you could not pass it by? Did you ever bring home a single artichoke that weighed 21 ounces? Ooh, what a treat!
I steamed, marinated, and ultimately grilled it, serving it up with an anchovy-caper-lemon aioli. And if that wasn’t wonderful enough, I paired it with a spicy caponata topped with creamy burrata and parmesan crisps.
Even though the FOODalogue kitchen goes Italian more meals than not, I’m sending this particular meal over to my friend, Val of More Than Burnt Toast. Val has been creating personal challenges for herself and in anticipation of the movie Eat Pray Love, she’s invited others to join her in celebrating the cuisine of Italy.
Vegetables and pastas are the stars of the Italian kitchen. In fact, the two in combination are my favorite supper. This started out as a vegetarian, pasta-less meal; however, during the preparation, I opted to include anchovy in the dipping sauce and to add some crumbled sausage in the caponata. But they were clearly additives.
After the usual trim of the top, stem and leaves, I steamed the artichoke with a couple of cloves of garlic and half a lemon in chicken broth. Once it was tender, I drained it, halved it, scooped out the prickly center and brushed it with a mix of evoo, balsamic, the garlic it was cooked with, and s+p. Since I don’t have an outdoor grill, I decided to ‘grill’ it under the broiler in the oven.
Anchovy-Caper-Lemon Aioli
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 tin anchovies
1 teaspoon capers
1 small clove of garlic
juice of 1/2 lemon
Ingredients were blended until emulsified.
I love Caponata and make it frequently in one form or another. Sometimes, I go strictly vegetarian; sometimes I flavor it with anchovies or, as I did this time, with leftover Italian sausage.
The dish was finished with fresh creamy Burrata cheese and fresh parsley.
This meal served 2 (we devoured the whole artichoke) with ample caponata leftover for additional meals. Next time it will not be pasta-less. 
21 Comments
It looks so good! I especially love the idea of the aioli!
Looks delicious! I’m sure it was.
Grilled artichoke is darn good. I make it often and it leaves me craving more. I usually make plain old garlic aioli, but next time I’m going to try your recipe. It all looks great!
Thanks for mentioning garlic. I forgot to include that in my list of ingredients. I’ve remedied it now.
This dish looks absolutely divine! I enjoy caponata, too. It’s easy and healthy, and I bet it pairs wonderfully with the artichoke.
As always an amazing dish and photos Joan.Thank you so much for joing in the Eat, Pray, Love challenge with me. I knew with your feet planted firmly in Italian roots you would come up with something delicious.
I wish I had been your guest. This is one of my favorite. When I find them I usually buy six…prepare them and eat them up all week.
Stunning photographs Joan! absolutely stunning!
I love artichokes and especially grilled. Beautiful pics
I love artichoke, I use to be scared of cooking it, but since I learned I can’t stop. Loved the Anchovy-Caper-Lemon Aioli. Yummm.
I am not a big artichoke fan, but prepared by you I would give it a go. Fantastic aioli dipping sauce.
Thanks for stopping by my blog.
I love artichokes, but I’m always left wanting more after I finish the heart!
I’m very excited by that huge artichoke Joan! And I adore the caponata with sausage. Must check out Val’s event too.
Very creative, It’s sort of like default pasta (of course as you say with out the pasta) GREG
The aioli is wonderful – brings back childhood memories. My mum loves artichokes and growing up she’d fix these and we’d have them with melted butter.
BTW, I love caponata too. It is one of my all time favorite foods. When Mum visits I must make your lovely aioli.
Ciao, Devaki @ weavethousandflavors
mmmmgood! Quiero mi alcachofa!
absolutely delicious! love the artichockes and the sauce!
It was the best. Loved it.
Mmm, your artichoke meal looks outstanding. We grow artichokes in our yard and have quite a few during the months of May and June. But none the size of this one! This year I tried making my own mayonnaise for the first time and it was absolutely wonderful. Your anchovy/caper/lemon sauce looks sooo good.
Looks delicious
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