Karl’s California Fusion Marinated Artichoke Hearts

Adapted from a Serious Eats recipe

I like marinated artichoke hearts, but they get a bit pricy for a tiny little bottle. When I saw baby artichokes for 5 for one dollar, I thought I would try making them for myself. It turned out not to be a simple task, but it was well worth the effort.

Karl’s California Fusion Marinated Artichoke Hearts

Looking for recipes on-line, most seemed to start with frozen or canned hearts. I found one on Serious Eats that was closer to what I had in mind. I adapted it to my Cal-Mex fusion meal.

Note: One problem with starting with fresh artichokes is the labor involved in preparing them for canning. This  article suggests a simpler way, but it is more for using whole large artichokes.

Many recipes, starting from fresh artichokes, call for cooking the hearts separately and then putting them in the pickling sauce. The recipe I stated with does not seem to cook the hearts at all, but that cannot be right. I decided that I could cook the hears for some time in the pickling liquid to get things started. It worked out very well.

Karl’s California Fusion Marinated Artichoke Hearts

Ingredients

1 cup water
1 lemon, juiced
12 small artichokes

½ cup white wine vinegar
3 Tbs. olive oil
1 tsp. Kosher salt
1 tsp. Mexican oregano
1 garlic clove, sliced
½ tsp. black peppercorn, cracked
⅛ tsp. red chili flakes

Directions

1. Put one cup of water and the juice of one lemon in a pot.

2. Rinse and trim the artichokes.

Note: Cut the top third off of the leaves and stem of each artichoke. Remove the tough outer leaves until you have only pale green leaves showing all around. Trim off the dark greens outer layer of the heart. Quarter each artichoke and cut out the “choke,” the fluffy hairs at the center of the artichoke.

3. As you finish each quarter toss it in the lemon water.

Tip: The acid in the lemon juice prevents the cut edges from oxidizing and turning black.

4, When all of the artichokes have been trimmed add the rest of the ingredients to the pot.

5. Bring the pot to a boil, cover, and reduce the heat to a simmer for 10 minutes.

Tip: Gently toss the artichokes once or twice to make sure that none are out of the liquid all of the time.

Note: When you start boiling the artichokes, about a third of them will be above the liquid line. As they soften most will become submerged.

6. Transfer the artichokes to a sterile lidded jar and pour as much of the hot liquid as possible into the jar.

Tip: If some of the spices and garlic are still in the pot when the jar is full, remove as much as you need to from the jar and add the dregs in the pot.

7. Place a lid tightly on the jar and shake to help distribute the spices.

8. Set the jar on counter until cool and, once cool, refrigerate for at least 24 hours.

Tip: After ten minutes of cooking the artichokes will be only partially cooked. As they cook down they will finish cooking.

9. Marinated artichokes will keep for at least one week in the refrigerator.