Despite their prickly exteriors, artichokes have a soft and delicious centre
The artichoke arrived in front of me looking hostile and unapproachable. Its spiky leaves suggested anything but food. I'd watched it grow in the garden, the triffid-like plants towering over my young head, with my father muttering something about excellent eating.
I cheered up when he spooned melted butter over the assembly, even more so when the pick-and-suck instruction started to reveal such good eating. Mind you, aged 11, I could have eaten melted butter for Ireland, and saw the leaf merely as transportation.
I barely had the patience to deal with the choke, but once I got to the heart, the point of the exercise was revealed. So much so that in years to come I gave up on the leaves, deciding it was all heart or nothing for me.
That was until I discovered the babies, artichokes so small the heart is barely formed and the leaves soft enough to feast on whole. In Italy they squash them flat and wrap them in batter to be deep-fried; they eat them raw; they preserve them in oil; and they sell them in tins. In Venice you can find the larger hearts sitting in murky buckets of water (with vinegar added to prevent discoloration), to be taken home and shaved into salads, or stewed in olive oil with herbs.
You can fill an artichoke bottom, too, but I now like to treat this vegetable as more than just a vehicle. If you are tempted however, scrambled eggs with some chopped chervil make a good stuffing, as does tuna bound with a little mayonnaise, and some sweet capers for a light summery touch, or perhaps a tomato-rich salsa with plenty of herbs, including mint, parsley, basil and chives. Before filling with these stuffings, slice off the top third of the artichoke, trim the bottom and boil it in acidulated salted water until tender. Allow to cool, then remove the central part, including the choke.
If you are short of garden space in which to grow your own artichokes, sourcing the tiny ones is best done at one of the farmers' markets. Supermarkets don't often stock this heavenly summer food. Soft artichokes are to be avoided, look for something firm and rigid. If baby ones are unavailable, you can cheat by trimming the tough leaves away and quartering larger specimens (although the chokes need to be removed).