For the curious, here’s something about me you probably didn’t know; repetitious mention of the word “healthy”, when referring to food preparation and/or consumption brings out the “Rosemary’s Baby” contrarian in me and makes me want to stop reading, heat up the black skillet with peanut oil and deep fry a batter coated Snickers bar or something like that.
I’m a proponent of sensible, enjoyable eating that includes all food except for cake. Sorry cake people (Frugal) but cake is just too, cakey 🙂 I’ve always been aware that too much of anything, salt, deep frying, fat, sweets, portions, etc., can affect your body’s health and this knowledge and an innate enthusiasm for vegetables, pretty much keeps me and my family in good health.
One of the things I like about sites like Olives and Artichokes http://olivesandartichokes.wordpress.com/ is that whenever I visit the site, the food they are eating and preparing always seems to be enjoyable, fresh and, dare I say it, healthy without the “H” word being mentioned. It’s the way they eat and vegetables are featured. My pan roasted artichokes are inspired by their site.
Pan Roasted Artichokes
12 baby artichokes
Juice of 1 lemon
3 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper
3 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tbsp parsley, chopped
Crushed red pepper
Lemon wedges.
Remove the tough outer leaves of the artichokes, trim the stems to about 1 inch and peel, cut into quarters, then place into a bowl of cold water with the lemon juice for about 15 minutes. Drain and pat dry.
Heat the olive oil in a heavy skillet, add the artichokes and brown for about 6 minutes. Add the garlic, parsley and crushed red, cooking for an additional minute or two. Serve hot with the lemon wedges.
Cooking in Sens 
Strangely enough “cake” is a word that it very popular with the French at the moment. This “cake” normally contains olives, tuna, tomatoes, or cheese – in fact anything but cakey ingredients. By the way, the artichokes look great. Just off to have a slice of cake with the grandchildren:)
Thank you Roger. What cake is that with olives, tuna and tomatoes?
I’m not a massive cake person, I much prefer vegetable, but they are awfully popular with the internet and I do enjoy baking them. I like to think I maintain a healthy bloggy balance between cake and not-cake!
And you do. There is even meat sometimes 🙂
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I don’t really do cake either (unless the French are going to start referring to tortilla as cake) – those look like delicious artichokes, I wish there had been some in the farmers’ market this morning… Never mind there’s lots of asparagus 😉
Hi Mad. I looked it up on the internet and the “cake” looks like a kind of bread. http://cuisine.journaldesfemmes.com/recette/339764-cake-thon-tomates-olives
Nice research and it does seem a bit bread like.
I am sitting on the couch eating flapjacks and drinking coffee while reading your thoughts on healthy with or without a capital H. Guess you know where I stand (or sit) on this one.
Best,
Conor
🙂
Can you tell I’m catching up on my blog reading? Haha! Again, another delicious recipe! I love artichokes and never think to roast them. Fabulous! I just might have some roasted artichokes with my pork belly. 🙂
Excellent idea! I had some with pork belly today 🙂
Lovely artichokes! However, I am now waiting for the deep fried batter coated snickers bar recipe :)…
Lol. Very funny Tessa.
Between your delicious looking dish here and John at Bartolini posting about baby artichokes this week, I am now craving them. Love the little kick of red pepper flake in your dish!
This was my first attempt at baby artichokes but well worth repeating.
I don’t hate the H word, but I do hate how people use it: as an excuse to suck the fat, flavor, salt and enjoyment out of life. “Healthy” has come to mean substituting perfectly fine foods for their lower-fat versions — which in my opinion are not only bad tasting, but actually unhealthy because of all the chemical tinkering they need to do to take out the fat and fix the flavor so it isn’t completely inedible. So gross.
I agree with you: just be sensible!
These pan-roasted artichokes look beautiful. Healthy in the best sense of the word!
Agreed!
I’m waiting for artichoke season here so I can start in on John’s and now your recipe. So what’s for tomorrow ? Something using lard and lots of it I hope!
Yes, a couple of people are doing John’s recipe.
Enticing, simple dish… and an amazing photo! I love your photography.
Thank you Mixer!
Such a beautiful photo.
Thank you Michelle.
I love artichokes, this recipe looks delicious, have a great week:)
Thank you katy
That indeed looks healthy yet flavourful enough even a non veggie lover would love
Thank you rs.
I adore artichokes, and when you roast them they have an amazing taste! But I am a cake person.. Sweet cake but also savory. (My next post will be about a cheese-olives-walnuts cake) 🙂
Good for you Villy! Looking forward to seeing your “cake”.
This dish looks amazing!
Thank you Nazar.
I’m with you. I love most foods cooked in all different ways. Sometimes I have to have catfish fried and breaded not just blackened. Life’s too short. 🙂
In total agreement Susan 🙂
These would go so perfectly with… well about anything!
Or just by themselves 🙂
It´s artichoke time here so I am loving all the inspiration from recipes I am seeing right now. I agree with what you say – here in Spain we quite often deep dry or use lashings of olive oil, but we have a huge variety of vegetables and other “healthy” foods at our fingertips,so I think it all balances out. The Mediterranean diet does indeed seem to be the best all round in terms of flavours, simplicity and…er…health 🙂
It’s all about balance, Chica and the Mediterranean gives us some of the best of that! “Lashings of olive oil” makes me salivate 🙂
Thanks for the link! And I do so agree with you when you say ‘sensible, enjoyable eating that includes all food except for cake’ – cake, very rarely, but everything else in a way that we can enjoy it and we never worry about the ‘h’ word! We, like everyone else in the Midi, use ‘lashings of olive oil’ as Chica puts it – why not, when it tastes so delicious and I believe it’s good for you too. Your artichokes look wonderful!
Thank you chaise. All of your food looks wonderful to me 🙂
Ha, in that case I bet a lot of my posts are a huge turnoff! I go back and forth between craving the rich stuff and the healthy stuff. But if the “healthy” stuff isn’t delicious, I don’t want it. Life is too short.
No, your posts are not turnoffs! Your emphasis is on good food, that just happens to be healthy 🙂 And life is too short!
Sounds and looks amazingly delicious!!! I will have to try out!!! xoxoxo
Thank you dress.