Ingredients for Olive Oil Braised Artichokes (Zeytinyağlı Enginar)
- 5 artichokes
- ½ tea glass (about 50 ml) vegetable oil
- ½ tea glass (about 50 ml) olive oil
- 1 dry onion
- 1 carrot
- 1 handful peas
- 1 medium potato
- 1 handful dill
- 3 sugar cubes
- ½ lemon, juiced
- 1 dessert spoon (about 2 tsp) salt
How to Make Olive Oil Braised Artichokes (Zeytinyağlı Enginar)
We arrange our cleaned artichokes in a non-stick pot (a pilaf pot works well). We quarter 1 dry onion and place the pieces between the artichokes. We dice 1 carrot and 1 medium potato into cubes and add them on top. We add 1 handful of peas. We scatter 1 handful of chopped dill over everything. We drizzle half a tea glass (about 100 ml / 1/3 cup + 1 tbsp) of olive oil and half a tea glass of vegetable oil over the top. We add 3 sugar cubes and squeeze in half a lemon. Finally, we add just enough water to barely cover the ingredients. We sprinkle 1 dessert spoon (about 2 tsp) of salt and leave to cook over low heat. Serve cold. Enjoy!
About This Recipe
It's the perfect time for artichokes. A festival dedicated to them was recently held in Urla. Organized by the İzmir Metropolitan Municipality and the Urla Municipality, the festival brought together gastronomy and artichoke experts. Throughout the event, panels, exhibitions, and competitions focused on artichoke cultivation and artichoke dishes were held. With the aim of highlighting the culinary richness of Urla, local artichoke recipes, workshops with Turkish and foreign chefs, and tasting events were also part of the program. The festival's goal was to promote the artichoke — a vegetable that has graced our tables in many forms over the years, offers countless health benefits, is grown in the Urla and peninsula region, and is also used for medicinal purposes.
If you eat artichokes, it's a gift to your health; if you watch them growing in the field, it's a feast for the eyes — truly beautiful. With its purple and lilac tasseled crown, it is the queen of spring. Perhaps that is why it has long been considered a noble plant in Europe. In 16th-century Europe, it was a prized centerpiece on the tables of nobles and the wealthy. In Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire, its leaves were used as a digestive aid. In Venice, where only purple artichokes grow, the first ones of the season are immediately trimmed and fried, served as a snack-style meze. Venice even has an "Artichoke Festival," celebrated on May 2nd.
How about preparing this treasure trove of health in its most delicious and lightest form, just as it has been enjoyed from past to present? Here is our easy and practical Olive Oil Braised Artichokes recipe.
