Artichokes à la barigoule .

Preparation and cooking time: 2.5 hours min. Serves 6.

Ingredients : 12 artichokes (preferably the ‘Moures de gat’, a Provençal artichoke variety), 100g ham, 6 shallots, 200g button mushrooms, 1 egg, 150g ‘petit salé’ (salt pork), 300ml white wine, 2 onions, 2 carrots, 5 garlic cloves, 3 laurel leaves, salt, thyme, olive oil, 1 glass of water, milled black pepper.

Preparation: snap off the outer leaves from the artichoke and trim the stem. Cut off the top half of the artichoke. Using a teaspoon, scoop out the inner leaves and choke. If the artichokes are young, there will be no choke. Put the prepared artichokes in a mixture of water and vinegar, before draining. Dice the ham. Peel and dice the shallots. Clean, wash, rinse and dice the mushrooms. Fry the shallots with half of the white wine, and reduce on a low heat until most of the liquid has evaporated. Pour 2 soup spoons of olive oil and add the ham, before adding the mushrooms, a pinch of salt and pepper. Take off the heat and put to one side.

Peel and chop the onions and carrots. Cube the salt pork. Peel and slice the garlic. In a stew pot, pour in a splash of olive oil and fry the salt pork for 5 minutes. Add a glass of water. Reduce until all the water has evaporated. Pour in another splash of olive oil, and add the onions, carrots, garlic, laurel, thyme and remaining white wine. Add salt and pepper, to taste.

Break the egg in the stuffing mix, mix and stuff the artichokes. Put the stuffed artichokes on a bed of chopped vegetables. Pour 3 soup spoons of olive oil over the top and a glass of water. Cover and cook on a low heat for 90 minutes.

Recipe take from ‘La Cuisine du soleil’ by Gui Gedda, published by Jeanne Laffite.