Lamb with fried artichokes, and it's immediately Easter

Lamb and artichokes are two cornerstones of Roman cuisine, two products that cannot miss on the table during the Easter holidays.

Artichokes are flowers and are typical of the Mediterranean flora, they have always been used both in the kitchen and for medicinal uses. They were already used in the kitchen by the ancient Greeks, the Egyptians and of course by the Etruscans and Romans.

The Romans ate them seasoned with the famous 'garum' or together with other herbs and it is still one of the typical Roman dishes, so much so that it is celebrated in numerous festivals dedicated to the artichoke  like the one in Velletri  dedicated to matticella cooking (with the pruning of the vines) or the very famous of Ladispoli which recalls thousands of people from Rome and from all over northern Lazio.

For this recipe I used ‘violet ‘or ‘cimaroli’ artichokes or Roman artichoke. There are different names that indicate the same product: the artichoke that is born first, the one that grows on top of the plant, the largest. And this is also the most tender that can be eaten raw in salads.

I made them fried golden as an accompaniment to a ‘lamb cacciatore’. I made only two small changes, I used a rice flour for frying and I replaced the traditional vinegar with raspberry vinegar.

Lamb cacciatore recipe with fried artichokes

I took a leg of lamb, boned it and made a stew, cutting small bites to obtain a faster cooking so that could remain pink in the center.

In a pan I put some oil, some sage leaves, some rosemary and a little chilli pepper. I let it heat up and added the meat, browned on all sides and sprinkled with white wine. Once it evaporated, I cooked it over medium low heat.

Separately, put some garlic cloves, rosemary needles, an anchovy in oil, a few capers in salt and the raspberry vinegar in a mortar. We pound everything creating a cream with a little oil that we will add to the meat almost at the end of cooking.

We prepare the artichokes by removing the outer leaves, cut the tips, clean the stem from the outside and put the artichoke in cold water and lemon for a few minutes.

Then we cut them into eight wedges which we pass in rice flour and beaten egg. Bring the frying oil to a temperature (no higher than 170°C) and cook the artichokes which we will put on absorbent paper to remove the excess oil.

We are ready to assemble the dish and accompany it with a good glass of wine. In the glass this time I chose a red from the Marche region, the Lacrima di Morro D' Alba. But if we want we can choose a Lazio white, that's fine.