Fried artichokes

Serves: 4

If they like it, it serves 4 otherwise

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Totaltime: 30 minutes

(Jewish-style artichokes), a legendary staple of Roman Jewish cuisine originating from the 16th-century Roman Ghetto. While traditionally served simply with salt and lemon, modern variations frequently pair these crispy, "flower-like" artichokes with dipping sauces like red pesto sauce

Ingredients

12 baby artichokes
3 lemons
Oil for frying (olive oil is traditional,however you may use canola, vegetable or grapeseed oil)
salt
Mayonnaise or aioli for dipping or red pesto

Preparation

Set aside a large bowl of water and squeeze the juice from two lemons in the bowl. Add the lemons in too as it will prevent the artichokes from browning.
Pick off the darker spiky outer leaves until you are left with the pale green bulb. Then, slice the leaves in half where the bulb starts to turn in, leaving a spiral flower shape. Trim the fibrous pieces off of the stem. put the artichoke in the water and continue with the other pieces.
Frying.

Heat up about 2 inches of oil to 275 degrees F. Set aside a cooling rack over a towel. Fry the artichokes for about 10 minutes, flipping periodically, until a knife entered near the stem enters easily.

Remove the artichokes and heat the oil up to 350 degrees F. When cool enough to handle, spread the leaves out to make them flower shaped. If you are using larger artichokes, remove the choke (the soft spongy center) at this point.

Fry the artichokes for 3-4 more minutes until golden in color. Serve immediately with a sprinkle of salt, a squeeze of lemon and a dip in mayonaise, aioli sauce or red pesto.