ROUSES_JanFeb2019_Magazine

Gulf Coast

STUFFED ARTICHOKES by Sara Roahen Stuffed Artichoke Soup WHAT YOU WILL NEED ½ pound butter photo by ROMNEY CARUSO

1 medium onion, diced 2 stalks celery, diced

2 tablespoons garlic, chopped 28 ounces (two 14-ounce cans) artichoke hearts, drained, rinsed and chopped ½ cup flour 2½ quarts chicken stock 3 cups cubed French bread 2 tablespoons parsley, finely chopped 2 teaspoons thyme, chopped 1 tablespoon oregano, finely chopped ¼ cup parmesan cheese, grated Ground black pepper, to taste Melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add onion, celery and garlic and sauté until tender, making sure vegetables do not brown. Add the chopped artichokes. Cook for 5 to 8 minutes to ensure they are tender. Add the flour and cook for 5 minutes or until flour taste is gone, stirring constantly to make the roux. You do not want the roux to get brown; this is a blonde roux. Add the chicken stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Let simmer for 20 minutes. Add the cubed French bread and herbs to the pot. Let simmer for another 10 minutes. The bread will help thicken the soup. Add the parmesan cheese and taste the soup. If it needs more salt, you can either add more cheese or add the kosher salt. Season with black pepper and stir. Add the cream and simmer for an additional 5 minutes. Serve in bowls warmed in the oven. Kosher salt, to taste 2 cups heavy cream HOW TO PREP

more likely that the French, who originally learned about artichokes from their Italian neighbors, instilled an artichoke tradition into the New Orleans cuisine long before the Sicilians arrived. Whoever is responsible for the custom of tripling an artichoke’s weight by cramming it full of garlicky breadcrumbs, Orleanians were eating artichokes as far back as 1753.That’s when Jean Charles Pradel, a French officer-turned-farmer began growing them on his West Bank plantation and selling them at the city’s markets.

IT’S NOT IMMEDIATELY CLEAR HOW THE STUFFED ARTICHOKE BECAME AS COMMONPLACE IN NEW ORLEANS AS OLIVE SALAD AND MEATBALLS, especially because artichoke plants in Louisiana are few and far between. Artichokes originated in Sicily, where they flourish in the hot sun and soil cut with volcanic ash, and the widespread assump- tion is that the habit of stuffing artichokes traveled over with the influx of Sicilian immigrants that arrived in New Orleans around the turn of the 20th century. But it’s

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