Vignarola

I love how the seasons all bring their own produce. As a privet chef I might one it a little extra much as it brings variation and new ideas to my job. Spring comes and brings among other good things; artichokes, spring onion, asparagus, beans and green leafs. 

I found the most delicious artichokes at the market. They were so tender and fresh they could have ben eaten raw but I’d been dreaming of Vignarola lately. And decided to straight home and do exactly that. Vignarola is an Italian vegetable dish with artichokes, beans and spring onion cooked in white wine.

I’m good at ranting so I’ll try to keep this short and sweet. Although this is a savoury dish. Please do yourself and your loved ones a favour and make this asap. Use it as a side for white fish, or chicken or eat as is, with loads of parmesan on top and slice of toasted sourdough on the side.

Vignarola Recipe

You’ll need:

• 1-3 Lemons
• 4 big or 6 small artichokes
• 100ml Evoo
• 6 spring onions, sliced or substitute with shallots, finely chopped
• 200ml white wine plus 50ml of water
• 300g shelled peas (1 kg in pod) or subtitute with frozen peas
• Black pepper, freshly cracked
• Flakey sea salt
• A pinch of aleppo pepper
• Mint leafs, torns in to smallis pieces
• Parsley, same as the mint
• Parmesan, optional

Good to add is also shelled broad beans (1kg in pod) or sugar snaps. If you’re using add at the same time as  the shelled/frozen peas.

Procedure:

Start with the artichokes. Fill a bowl with cold water and press in the lemon use, this is to stop the artichokes from oxidising and turning brown.

Use a small, sharp knife, Trim the stem and the outer part, hard part of the bottom. Shave the stem. Remove the over layer of leafs from the artichokes, depending on your variety you might need to cut most of the top off as well. Split in half lengthwise and if you have hairy fluff (aka the choke) in there make sure to remove with a spoon. Split again lengthwise. You  should now have 4 similar looking pieces of artichoke with only tender leafs, the yummy base and a bit of the inner part of the stem left. Put them in the lemon water while you prepare the rest.

Heat the oil in a skillet to medium hot, add the spring onions fry till translucent, add the artichokes, coat them in oil. 

Add the wine and the water, cover and cook for 10-15 min. Stir now and then.

Take the skillet off the heat and stir in the herbs. Let rest for about 10 min. Plate and shave over parmesan. Serve with toasted sourdough as a starter or as a side with grilled chicken, fish or anything you fancy really. I decided to eat mine on top of torn gem lettuce and poured over the remaining liquid as a dressing. The vignarola will keep in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Bon profit!