Having returned from a business trip to Brazil on a Saturday evening, and with German shops still stubbornly closed on Sundays, my food situation was somewhat bleak this weekend. However, I had a wonderful glass of artichokes in my pantry, from Tudela no less. These artichokes, which my Mother in Law thankfully knows to provide me with on each of our visits, are melt-in-your-mouth tender and cause an artichoke flavour explosion to happen in your mouth. I also had some diced bacon in the freezer and some red onions were knocking about. Almost all you need for a light, flavourful summer dinner.
But first, here are some gratuitous Brazil pictures:
https://instagram.com/p/5nRJaHpmx6wCT52jrYblqu9Lw8GAMDIhKA71Q0/
The Niemeyer Auditorium in São Paulo is pretty striking.
https://instagram.com/p/5wg7sVJm7VnZoS1rhuPgMrWhN6rsVjXMqT4M00/
Rio de Janeiro, stunning as ever. (I wanted to post a different picture here but Instagram won’t let me, I don’t understand…)*
OK, now for the food.
https://instagram.com/p/547H2dJmwg6qZ88mLDh5-vMtRmxeYOK9jDnvg0/
Ingredients (serves 2)
- 400g (net weight) canned artichoke hearts, cut in halves
- the artichoke water from the can
- 1 (red) onion, diced
- 1 clove of garlic, minced
- 2 tsp white flour
- 1 tbsp diced bacon
- 1 tsp dried parsley (you can also use fresh)
- olive oil
- salt
- pepper
Heat the olive oil in a non-stick frying pan. Reduce the heat and add the diced onions. Cook until they start becoming translucent, add the minced garlic and the bacon and cook a bit more. Add the parsley and the flour and stir. Then add the artichoke water, turn up the heat and keep stirring until the flour has dissolved and the sauce starts thickening. Add the artichokes and continue to cook until they’re heated through. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy!
* P.S. – A really annoying thing has happened; apparently Instagram has decided to take away the option of getting to the source code of a picture to embed it directly through the source URL. It’s a bit crap because now I can’t control the size of the pictures, whether they’re centred in the text, and it has all the Instagram caption and “likes” etc. Plus, it seems to “eat” or rather not let me post certain pictures. GRRRRRRR. Has anyone discovered a way of finding the source URL? Thanks 🙂
Books, Bikes, and Food 