Bringing Up Baby Artichoke

IN Italy, artichokes are almost as common as onions, so normal and necessary are they considered. Every little vegetable shop has a crate of artichokes sitting casually by the front door, and entire stalls are devoted to them at the market. A pile of violet-tinged freshly picked beauties with their silvery leaves is quite an enticing sight. And the stalls come complete with little old ladies who will trim and prepare them for you if you want to pay a little extra.

So it’s not unusual in city kitchens there to have artichokes several times a week in one way or another. Here, it’s a vegetable still relatively underappreciated, and many folks eat them only from jars. More’s the pity.

The Italian way with artichokes is worth emulating. It nearly always has something to do with olive oil, garlic and herbs, it’s always a simple preparation, and it’s always delicious. Using the so-called baby artichokes from foggy coastal California, which are small and exceedingly user-friendly, you can make garlicky Roman-style artichokes quite effortlessly at home. California had a cool wet late spring this year, so artichokes are still plentiful. Why not set aside your locavore leanings and enjoy the bumper crop?

Back to babies. Fear not — I’m not a fan of those pricey prepackaged boutique infant specimens grown for looks. But certain vegetables really are at their best picked on the small side — peas, green beans and corn come to mind immediately. Tenderness and sweetness are the reason, period. Baby artichokes are really the low-sprouting buds of ordinary globe artichoke plants. Technically mature, they are nonetheless quite tender, and they have no hairy choke.

It takes no time to peel off the outer petals and trim a couple of pounds of these diminutive artichokes, perhaps with a cool glass of pinot grigio for encouragement. I suspect that, once you learn how to cook them, you’ll make them a regular part of your vegetable repertory. The only other ingredients you need for this Roman favorite are olive oil, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, garlic and parsley. When the prep work is done — it can be finished well in advance — the artichokes need less than 10 minutes in the pan.

Eat them warm as a snack with drinks, or as a part of an antipasto with slices of prosciutto and fresh mozzarella, or spoon them over roasted halibut or spaghetti.