I know it’s been pasta, pasta, pasta for over a week, but I was in Trader Joe this morning and saw these beautiful baby artichokes and they said “Buy Me”, and I did. On the walk, home I was thinking about what was I going to do with them. Then I remembered on one of the cruises we took many years ago, the chef in the upscale restaurant served a roasted artichoke pasta and I said, “I am going to recreate it”. Now it was over ten years ago, but, when we travel I have no issue asking how a dish is made and I found my notes in my travel diary about the dish. Here is my verse on the dish – Enjoy
Note: The photo of the final dish was blurry, when I make the dish again I will change the picture.
Grilled Baby Artichokes Pasta
Ingredients
10 to 12 baby artichokes, trimmed, halved, and tough outer leaves removed
½ lb. linguini pasta
2 lemons juiced and zested, save the lemons
4 cloves of roasted garlic, smashed and minced
4 tablespoon unsalted butter
½ cup Asiago Cheese
½ cup Parmesan Cheese
Hand-full of Italian Parsley, minced
Red Chili flakes to taste
Salt and Pepper to taste
Olive oil
Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper
Place artichokes in a large saucepan with enough water to submerge them, long with the shells of the squeezed lemons and a tablespoon of the lemon juice. Bring to a boil, reduce and simmer until artichokes are tender but not too soft, about 5 minutes or so. Drain artichokes and place them in a bowl. Now add a long drizzle of olive oil, about 4 tablespoons or so, the salt and pepper to taste. Toss to coat. Transfer to the baking sheet, cut side down, and roast about 10 to 15 minutes, until crisp and tender. Remove from oven, transfer back to the bowl, and cover.
Coat pasta as directed per package, drain, and reserve about 2 cups of the pasta water.
While pasta is cooking, place a large skillet over medium heat and heat up about 2 tablespoons of olive oil and 3 tablespoons of the butter with the chili flakes until fragrant. Now add the roasted garlic, stir. Followed by the lemon juice, zest, cooked pasta, and about ½ to ¾ cups of the pasta water and the parmesan cheese, toss until a smooth sauce is created. You may need to add more pasta water during the tossing. Once the sauce is the desired thickness, add the remain butter and parsley, toss and transfer to a serving bowl and garnish with the remaining cheese. – Serve
Enjoy Cooking