“Bravo!” said the woman at the till as she picked up the bag of persimmons that I’d managed to correctly tag with a price. As this grocery store is near our house and very well run, with nice produce and not a lot of any one thing, but almost one of any thing, I’ve visited it quite often. Sardinians expect you to weigh your own fruits and vegetables on a conveniently located scale which prints out a label with the price. It was the first time I’d figured out how to navigate this scale. The lady wasn’t being condescending with her congratulations: it was a hearty, genuine “Bravo!”
I like this woman. She must be the tallest woman in town, she usually wears a bright pink sweater with a pink cap perched jauntily over her short, dark hair, and she has an air of confidence. She also has a big heart. Today I saw her walk purposefully out from behind the counter, return with two large packages of pastries and bread, and plunk them in front of the customer, an elderly lady. The lady first protested that she couldn’t take them, then tried to pay. The lady in pink took the customer’s money and stuffed it back into her still-open wallet, saying something about how everyone needed to eat.
The lady in pink did not have artichokes though, so I set off for another shop. I think perhaps it is early-season for artichokes as stores tend to showcase them in crates out front and they seem to disappear rather quickly. The next store also was lacking artichokes, and as the scale was completely different, I did not receive a “Bravo!” I didn’t mind though. It was a beautiful, sunny morning and I was just happy to be walking about.
The final stop was at a strictly fruit-and-vegetable store that did have a crate of artichokes out front. I bent down and picked one up a little too carelessly. Not only do the heads of the artichokes have thick, claw-like spikes, there are also thorns on the stems and leaves…and a few leaves are always left on as a show of freshness. A lady exiting the store smiled sympathetically as I picked a thorn out of my finger. The second time, I approached the situation with more caution, gingerly pulling off the leaves and thorny parts of the stems so at least I could carry them to the checkout. Anything that defends itself so emphatically must be delicious, no?
As I neared home, the lady who lives across the street was arriving at the same time. She is the aunt of the owner of our rental house and is always asking if everything is going well, so we had a little hand-waving conversation on the street. Moments after we parted, there was a knock on the door and she was offering me a small pizza-like creation, still warm with a delicious aroma. It wasn’t a pizza though—more like a savory pancake with grated onions, zucchini, and potatoes, topped with tomato and cheese. How could my day get any better? I declawed the artichokes, steamed them for a while, and prepared a simple sauce with a little olive oil, juice from our “liberated” lemons, salt, and pepper. When everything was ready, I took it all outside and ate in the sun. Glorious!
Oh this food reminds me of my childhood…”Alcachofa” or “alcaucil” mmm yummy! they are a variety of a species of thistle, and thus the thorns!
My mom, who you know is so skill in household chores, used to prepared them like you did. She would steam them and make a creamy vinagrette. We kids, loved to peel the leaves one by one, deep the soft end in the vinagrette -suck it out -repeat until we got to the yummy artichoke core. Of course the game was who made the biggest pile of leaves…if I may call them leaves.
Hope you enjoyed them…they are great for liver function.
Do you know what your mom put in the vinaigrette? Yes, you describe exactly how we often eat them! Peel off one leaf at a time, dip, and pull it through your front teeth to remove the tender part. Thanks for sharing your story!
I will ask her…(as we know) she does not has a big recipes’ repertoire – Thinking further, and looking at your picture, I was amazed we kids were tricked to ate “those” vegetables… I have to give credit to mother’s remarkable work !