For 4 people: 8 small artichokes, olive oil for frying, 2 cloves garlic, 1 rosemary sprig, salt, pepper, lemon juice; vinaigrette: 6 tablespoons olive oil, 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar, 1/4 clove garlic, 1 tablespoon chopped chervil, 1 tomato (skinned, seeded and finely diced; salt and pepper.
Cut the artichokes in half lengthwise, scrape out the seed filaments with a teaspoon, sprinkle with lemon juice, salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in a pan and fry the artichokes on the cut side, turning several times. Add diced garlic and rosemary to sauté, 3 to 5 minutes total.
Cut langostinos in half lengthwise, season, and sauté in olive oil on both sides, about 2 minutes.
Whisk together the ingredients for the vinaigrette, season with salt and pepper to taste.
For the pesto, place the ingredients in a blender or grind in a mortar.
Drizzle the lukewarm artichokes with the vinaigrette and toss with the langostinos. Serve the pesto on the side.
Artichokes: noble, aphrodisiac - and healthy to boot
Artichoke (from Ital. carciofo, from Arab. harsuf) is the name given to the edible flower bud of certain thistles. It was probably brought to Sicily by the Saracens. The very young Italian artichokes of early spring are so tender that they can be eaten raw; with the small, violet ones one does not have to perform any tricks to be able to serve them on the table. Neither do the very large ones that come to us from France, but they do make work. The best ones grow in Brittany, because jumbo thistles love it not too cool, but above all damp.
Artichokes, wrote a 17th-century French physician, were especially beneficial to those prone to sluggishness and melancholy, i.e. showing symptoms indicative of problems with liver metabolism. Modern medicine is no less convinced of this, so that the active substances of thistles are contained in many relevant preparations. So the idea of making an appetite and digestion enhancing aperitif from artichokes, called Cynar, was obvious.
Artichokes are delicate and unmistakable thanks to their distinctive bitter note, they are also proven to be healthy; the fact that aphrodisiac effects are attributed to them on top of that does not make them unappealing, but could be one more reason to eat them more often. Metin Altundal does not know whether this is why the Turkish sultans were so fond of artichokes, nor do they thrive in his high-altitude West Anatolian homeland. But artichokes are known and loved in Turkey, and they are cultivated in the regions around the Mediterranean - of course, since hardly any other cuisine has such a wide variety of vegetable preparations as Turkey. The noble artichokes, of all things, are not going to be left out of the equation. They are the small ones, and in Turkey they are eaten as a warm salad with olive oil and young garlic. Or with bulgur, shredded wheat.
Not long ago, the big French artichokes were on the menu of any self-respecting restaurant. Now the small ones from Italy have almost completely supplanted them, largely to do with the fact that they're a lot less work. It takes time and not least a strong, sharp knife to make the large thistles edible. When you have the cooked bud in front of you, dip the fleshy lower part of the leaves into a sauce (e.g. Béarnaise) and finally take the juicy bottom, it becomes clear that this is no everyday dish. The ragout, as prepared by Bernhard Metzler from small artichokes, is no less delicious in its own way (Metzlers Gasthof, Hackenheim near Bad Kreuznach). At Metinn Altundal's stand you have a choice, he stocks both varieties.
Fruits, vegetables, tropical fruits
Metin Ali Altundal
Kleinmarkthalle, Stand 104/105
Hasengasse 7
60311 Frankfurt am Main
Telephone: 069-287717
Fax: 069-656439
Mobil: 0171-8334964
from Waldemar Thomas