The trick to artichoke hearts and spaghetti is three fold.
- you need brass extruded spaghetti. Not Teflon. If you hunt around you can find it for $3 instead of $8 a pound.
- you want grilled artichoke hearts. These cost more. But no other will due.
- this isn’t a marinara. You gotta do the whole toss in the pan with some of the pasta water to finish cooking it.
Bonus: red pepper flakes. If you don’t add them you messed up
Butter, spaghetti, red pepper flakes, artichoke hearts, parmesan, pasta water. That’s it. That’s the whole thing. Well, that’s the whole thing if you properly salt your pasta water.
Make sure to add the parm both to the pan stage and a little for garnish.
It’s got flavor. It’s got texture.
If it’s in the budget add some lemon juice and Italian parsley.
Cost per person: $3.82
Definitely trying this. Artichoke hearts are a weakness I have.
I just wish the good ones didn’t cost so much. I always keep a jar of roasted on hand for emergencies. When I have money again I will have to restock.
I sometimes prepare artichokes from whole. Usually by throwing in a stew and letting them cook that way. Other times by steaming in a wok. Or occasionally by baking.
I suppose the baked version of the hearts would be best to use for grilling, but I’m not sure. Hard to believe they’d be better than store-bought smoked, though. *shrug*
I look at the price of whole artichokes and back away. We tried growing them and they failed. As a kid we’d eat whole artichokes stuffed with bread crumbs. But they could only be an appetizer. Never a meal.
Seems like every fluffing thing’s more expensive now, but it used to be that the local store had good prices on 'chokes, here and there. Now I’m curious to see what prices will be like in the coming harvest season. They’re typically grown in California (I think), but from the little research I did, it doesn’t seem like the rest of the country should have that much variance in price, based on shipping. Regardless, I’m going to try grilling some hearts, next opportunity…
In San Diego my grandma had them growing growing in the backyard. It’s the perfect climate for thistle. Thistle likes to grow here in Lesser Carolina but we couldn’t get the artichokes to do more than get tall.
They do sound really tricky to grow to get the edible thistle-flowers. From what I’m seeing (among other things), they need a sustained, cool winter in order to produce the necessary vegetation and buds, something not usual for the SE, it seems.
They grew fine in San Diego and that is most definitely not a cool winter. I should pull up their old house and see which direction their back yard hill faced.
Google maps and 40 year old memories have confirmed what I expected. Their back yard hill is north facing. Just the right microclimate for getting cold in the winter there.
Nice forensics, or… whatever the right word is!
Ooo, this would be awesome with fresh pasta.
High quality dry will work just fine. I thought about making pasta for this but decided against it. If you do make pasta I definitely would recommend a big pasta instead of a long one.
My plan tonight is to hand cut some fat tagliatelle and serve this with chicken thighs and a nice spring salad
I’ve never even had artichoke hearts before, but this looks damn good.
I’ve never heard it said, but I would have to assume that they’re going to acquired taste. They’ve got a great toothiness to them, but the flavor can be a little bit bland to a little bit acidic and it may turn off some people. I mentioned that lemon juice thing. It can make a lot of difference if you’re not accustomed to them.
this is making me so hungry 🤤
You should eat. If you go to Taco Bell I’d like a spicy tostada and a double decker taco supreme.
this makes my heart feel warm and fuzzy 🥰
Are there certain brands of artichoke hearts in cans that don’t have hard fiberous parts? The few times I’ve had them they seemed not prepared properly, am I supposed to do something to them? They’re supposed to taste fatty, right?
They are all going to have some fibery bits. They don’t really have much taste and what little they have is definitely plant, not fat. But they can take on the flavors they are prepped with.
For this meal I just pulled them out of the jar, chopped them in half length wise, tossed them on a pan with hit butter and red pepper flakes. Then I added the pasta, cheese and some pasta water until everything was perfect.
You don’t need pre-grilled artichoke hearts. This comes out great on a pan with some olive oil and butter. Even better if you cook some salmon in with it after the artichokes are about done. Touch of lemon. Perfect.
Salmon is definitely not in the budget.
Canned artichokes are all I have access to because nobody grows them here and then one time we tried we failed. So my only options are pre-marinated or canned artichokes and they are not going to grill up the right way. I was stupid of an Italian like me to move to Lesser Carolina.
But I get livermush. So it’s not all that bad.
Oh, I use canned artichoke hearts for this as well. I don’t think they specify that they’re grilled.
Salmon is not cheap by me but also not crazy expensive, just a standard food. You might substitute with something slightly better than chicken (or shred the chicken and make sure you have plenty of liquid so that it absorbs the flavor without drying out).
If it doesn’t say they’re grilled then they’re not grilled. I definitely recommend grilled. That little bit of char makes all the difference.
