You love artichokes, but just looking at the spiny cones makes you dread cooking with them. Personally, I love the prep involved in getting them ready, but I understand I’m a weirdo. I gorge on artichokes during the season. But I get it — sometimes you want that subtle, celery-asparagus flavor without dealing with the leaves, or the choke, or the stem. A lot of artichokes come with a longer stem these days.
Enter frozen and marinated artichoke hearts. I always keep a bottle or two of the marinated type in the pantry and a bag of unmarinated plain (Trader Joe’s) frozen artichoke hearts in the freezer. Each is suited to a particular use.
Marinated in the jar
Let’s first take a look at artichoke hearts in a jar. Usually they are quartered hearts with leaves attached and are either preserved in water, oil or my favorite, some kind of Italian-ish marinade that includes oil, vinegar, and herbs. They are extremely tender. I always taste them out of the jar and make adjustments I deem necessary. Usually this involves adding a high quality, assertive extra virgin olive oil, a drizzle of either red wine or sherry vinegar, and additional black or red chile pepper. Customize them according to your taste. If you prefer to start with a blank slate, choose the variety that comes just in oil without any herbs and spices. I use marinated artichoke hearts in chopped salads that feature salame and chickpeas. That weeknight pizza you’re making is brightened by the addition of the marinated artichokes. Chop them up a little and scatter them on before the cheese. They’re good if you go red or white in your choice of pizza topping. But my favorite way of using them is probably in sandwiches, especially an Italian-style tuna sandwich. This particular version was on my menu for the entire duration of Angeli, so 27 years. It’s a long run for a sandwich and remained one of the most popular until the end.
Evan’s Italian-style Tuna Sandwich recipe
Good Food host Evan Kleiman offers an Italian-style Tuna Sandwich recipe. Photo by Evan Kleiman.
Take canned tuna packed in water, drain it, break it up, then liberally season the tuna with extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, and chopped parsley. If the bread has a lot of crumb, scoop out a little of it from the piece of bread you will use for the bottom of the sandwich. Drizzle extra virgin olive oil over top and bottom pieces of bread. Nestle the seasoned tuna into the scooped-out piece of bread. Top the tuna liberally with the marinated artichoke hearts broken in a couple of pieces as you take them out of the jar. What a satisfying sandwich.
Frozen quartered
I love frozen artichokes because all the prep work is done, but they’re still raw with no flavor component added. I get to add the flavor I choose, and for artichokes, it’s usually an excellent olive oil, garlic, basil, and sometimes mint, depending on what I'll do with them. Let’s count the ways: a sauté with garlic, leeks, asparagus cut on the diagonal into 1” pieces, peas, chiffonade of basil, a bit of chopped mint, salt, and pepper. Once I have that mixture, I either eat it as a side veg, spoon it atop a bruschetta with some goat cheese, or layer it into a bechamel-based lasagna. They are also excellent tossed in olive oil and air-fried for a snack.
The Sporkful Dan Pashman’s Cavatelli with Roasted Artichokes and Preserved Lemon recipe is included in “Anything’s Pastable.” Photo by Dan Liberti.
But you might want to try this Cavatelli with Roasted Artichokes and Preserved Lemon recipe from Dan Pashman’s new book Anything’s Pastable. And of course they are perfect to use in any recipe for Baked Chicken and Artichokes. This one calls for preserved lemons. If you don’t have them, just use fresh lemon slices and squeeze a bit of extra juice over it all.