Deconstruction of an Artichoke and Fancy Tapas

I have become a little obsessed with all things artichoke, though I am still puzzling as to how to get the heart out of a fresh artichoke. I've done this twice now...



First, steam the artichoke.



Second, peel off each leaf one by one, slowly and delectably dipping in oil and balsamic and scraping each little bit of meat into my mouth. This is fun, and calorie burning...

Third, peeling and scraping faster and more anxiously, wondering when I will get to the heart...



Fourth, anti-climax! No heart, just Nothingness! That's great for my Daoism paper, but not for my tummy! :(

Where did it go?

* ~ *

For a second course, we made a tapas-inspired spread...


Baby beets done Jamie Oliver style... absolutely divine. Baked with tons of garlic, some marjoram, balsamic and oil in a tinfoil bag. Balsamic caramelizes and steams the beets at the same time.



Tapas style summer ratatouille, my own creation, inspired by the 222 Lyon Tapas Bar, the only authentic traditional Spanish tapas in Ottawa. Served with French bread, toasted and rubbed with garlic. I made all this with my Dad, it has become the thing we do for fun when I visit - make extravagant meals in his well-stocked kitchen.

Tapas Style Summer Ratatouille

This is such a nice alternative to a stewed tomato wintery ratatouille because the emphasis is on the natural, fresh flavours of market vegetables to speak (or sing rather!) for themselves without being leached into a sauce.

Ingredients:
- Asian eggplant (the small ones. I've given up Italian eggplant - it is so full of bitter juices, it's not worth the trouble.
- zucchini
- fennel (a nice alternative to onion)
- fresh, flavourful tomatoes
- 1 clove garlic (don't overpower the fresh taste)
- a mix of fresh Italian herbs (thyme, oregano, basil)

Directions:
- Dice all the vegetables in tiny cubes, with the eggplant cubes twice as big as the zucchini to anticipate shrinkage when cooking, equal total quantity of zucchini, eggplant and tomato, about half that of fennel.
- Sautee in olive oil in the following order: fennel and garlic, eggplant till it wilts and is soaking oil well (be careful not to feed it too much oil, it will drink whatever you give it), zucchini (same, but much quicker than eggplant).
- Season at each stage with minced fresh herbs, salt and fresh ground pepper.
- Turn off heat and toss in tomatoes and cook in residual heat.

It is important not to overcook the vegetables. The beauty of this dish is the fresh, whole and vibrant vegetable cubes.

Serve with French bread, or for a meal, serve over rice, couscous, pasta, or orzo. You'll be amazed at the incredible flavours.

With our tapas, we drank a bottle of my new favourite wine, Hidden Bench Estate Chardonnay (2006):



My Snooth review:

Hidden Bench Vineyards & Winery Estate Chardonnay 2006 (SnoothRank: 3.5/5)
Canada > Ontario (August 2009)
Beautiful chardonnay from Niagara. Begins with a controlled fruity oak, and in a dramatic flourish, turns to a long buttery caramel finish. myRating 5/5

P.S. The Snooth rank is 3.5 only because there is only one review, for which I gave it a 5/5!

Bare Cupboard Antipasti and Cross Canada Beer Sampler

I guess I am working in a general backwards direction blogging my Ontario tour. First, another reunion story. The night we got back our good friend, neighbour and housesitter Maja came over to see us for the first time in a month (for B) and a week (for me).

I am particularly proud of last night's spread, since we had nothing, having been away and completely unstocked with fresh things.

Brian made a gorgeous focaccia with rosemary:



My Bare Cupboard Antipasti:



Basically this recipe deconstructed to go with B's lovely "flatbread", plus some dressed up artichoke hearts.

1. Bean dip with roasted garlic pictured above centre (can of mixed beans) (see recipe link).
2. caramelized onions (onions had awaited our return faithfully)
3. my dirty secret in-a-pinch lifesaver - frozen shrimp (I promise I will give this up if I get some generous PhD funding!). I marinated the shrimp in a Corsican herb mix, fresh grated peppercorns, sea salt, olive oil and minced garlic tossed on high heat.
4. That can of artichoke hearts bought on a whim at Giant Tiger came through for me - dressed up in a lemon (from the corner store) and olive oil.

The next treat was a Cross Canada Beer Sampler courtesy of B:



We sampled from right to left, light to dark, each bottle split among three glasses:
1. Steam Donkey Lager from British Columbia (B's cousin got married there).
2. Wild Rose Velvet Fog, a wheat beer from Calgary, Alberta (B nannied for three nephews there).
3. Pump House S. O. B. (Special Old Bitter) from Moncton, New Brunswick (B had a family reunion and attended another wedding there).

Not everyday you get to imbibe someone's travel route! My favourite was the middle one (I am usually a fan of middle beers).

Other refreshments for the night were also travel locale-based:

Another wine from my Beamsville Bench tour: Hidden Bench Roman's Block Riesling (2007). They were so classy they emailed me the tasting notes (not sure how to host PDFs on blogger? Help?) for the wines I bought when I got home.

An Armenian pomegranate dessert wine, Ijevan Factory Grenade 2002, from our friend, Gino, as a thank you gift to Maja for cat-sitting while he was away in Eastern Europe.

The rest of the night was spent in general silliness...



... and rocking out to Heart.