Carciofi alla Romana (Braised Roman Artichokes)

Variations

• Carciofi alla giudia: the same artichoke in the same city handled the opposite way. The trimming is identical; then it is deep-fried twice with no water at all until the leaves open into a crisp flower. This one is the steamed half of the pair.
• If you cannot get mammole: mature globe artichokes have a developed choke, so scrape it out. Rome's spring mammole are young enough that the choke has not formed and the whole heart is eaten.
• With anchovy: many households tuck a piece of anchovy in with the herbs. It reads as savoury depth rather than as salt.
• Served cool: a night in the fridge sets the oil and closes the flavour down. Bring them back to room temperature before serving (serving temperature).
• The trimmings: the peeled stem skin and the bases of the outer leaves make a light vegetable stock rather than rubbish.

Tips

• Half of this dish is throwing things away. An artichoke is a flower bud and only the inner part of it is edible; the outer leaves stay fibrous however long they cook and the leaf tips are tough. The trimming is therefore not preparation but the body of the recipe, and more than half the weight goes.
• The lemon water is a working condition, not a garnish. Guacamole explains the same reaction — "polyphenol oxidase meeting oxygen at the cut surface, no heat anywhere, visible in minutes" — and browning sorts the answers by which of the reaction’s three requirements a dish can afford to take away: acid takes away the enzyme. What differs here is the time scale. An avocado is mashed and then given lime; an artichoke takes minutes to trim and every layer of leaves you pull off creates a fresh cut surface. So the acid has to be there throughout the work, not at the end of it.
• Snap the outer leaves, do not cut them. Snapping lets the leaf tell you where the tough fibre ends: fibre that comes away with it means it was an outer leaf, and a clean break in the tender part means you have arrived. A knife hides that line, so you either throw away good flesh or keep fibre.
• Leaving the stem on is the Roman signature. The core of the stem is the same tissue as the heart and just as tender; only the outer skin needs peeling. It is also why the dish is served standing up, as in the photograph.
• The heads cook in liquid and the stems cook in steam. That is what the level of the liquid is for. The stems stand clear and are cooked by the steam under the lid, which is why lifting the lid leaves the stems underdone. One pan running two kinds of heat at once.
• Do not be careful with the oil. It is not a dressing here, it is half the cooking medium. As cooking oils divides them, this is a low-temperature infusion rather than frying, which is exactly where an extra virgin oil with its aroma intact belongs.
• Mentuccia is not mint. It is a Roman wild calamint, gentler than mint with something of oregano in it. Where it cannot be had, half mint and half flat-leaf parsley lands closer than mint alone, which pushes the dish sweet.
• Serve them at nearly room temperature. Hot, the oil leads; cold, the aroma shuts down. That is why Roman restaurants make them ahead and let them sit, and it is the middle band serving temperature is about.