Baked Stuffed Artichokes

Note: I received a box of produce from Misfits Market in order to write this post. Opinions are mine alone.

I really like stuffed artichokes, but the idea of making them has always kind of intimidated me. I finally got up the courage to try them out when I received a box from Misfits Market with four lovely artichokes inside.

If you’ve never heard of Misfits Market, it was born from a mission to bring delicious, fresh, and affordable misfit produce to people everywhere and reduce food waste at a scale that creates positive and lasting impact.

Every box of Misfits produce benefits farmers, helps prevent food waste, and ultimately helps save the environment. Misfits is Philadelphia and New Jersey based but is rapidly expanding. The company rescues produce from regional farms and distributes it throughout the Northeast in three business days or less.

Misfits Market has two sizes of boxes: the Mischief and the Madness with a variety of fruits and veggies in each one. You can learn more about them here.

You’ll see more posts from me showing how I used my box, but let’s get back to the artichokes! My mother-in-law makes a batch of stuffed artichokes around Christmas and I am always amazed with the amount of work they can take! So this version for Baked Stuffed Artichokes is a bit of a cheat. Cutting them in half and baking them takes some of the “stuffing” work out, but not all of it.

Ingredients:

• 4 artichokes
• 3 lemons, juiced
• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
• 1 large shallot, minced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 2 cups Italian breadcrumbs
• 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped, plus more to taste
• salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.

Cut off the stems and about 1 inch off the top of each artichoke. Remove any tough outer leaves, and then use kitchen scissors to snip off the sharp tips of all the leaves.

Slice the artichokes in half vertically and scoop out the fuzzy choke center.

Add the artichokes to a bowl and juice the 3 lemons over the artichokes, tossing to combine.  Remove the artichokes from the juice, reserving the juice.

Brush each artichoke half with olive oil on all sides and add to an oven safe pan cut side down.

In a separate pan, add 4 tablespoons butter and melt over medium low heat. Let cook for about 3 minutes, or until the butter begins to brown. Add the shallots and garlic and cook until fragrant, about 3 minutes.

Add in the reserved lemon juice and 1/4 cup white wine. Cook, letting reduce for about 5 minutes. Remove a few tablespoons of this mixture and reserve (this will be a dip for the artichokes at the end) Add in 2 cups breadcrumbs and parsley, stirring to combine. Remove from heat. Season with salt and pepper.

When cool enough to handle, push some of the breadcrumb mixture in between all of the outer leaves on each artichoke. (It’s ok if you can’t get a lot in there.) Add the artichokes cut side down to the oven uncovered for 30 minutes. Remove from heat and flip the artichokes over.

Use a spoon to scoop the remaining breadcrumb mixture into the artichoke halves, pressing down so it pushes into each layer of the leaves. Cover with aluminum foil and cook for an additional 25 minutes or until the leaves of the artichoke come off easily when pulled.

Serve topped with more freshly chopped parsley and the reserved lemon butter mixture.

To eat, begin by removing an outer leaf and scraping the bottom part of the leaf that was attached to the artichoke through your teeth to remove the stuffing and soft part of the leaf. You can also dip the leaves in your reserved lemon butter mixture as you go.

Discard the remaining leaf and continue with the other leaves. When you’ve removed all of the petals, flip the artichoke over and dig into the stuffing and artichoke heart under the stuffing, drizzled with the lemon butter mixture (if there is any left)!