Wonder of Wonders, Miracle of Miracles

on
Cue music from FIDDLER ON THE ROOF:
Wonder of wonders,
Miracle of miracles,
I grew an artichoke on my land
When I first planted it
How I had hoped for this
Nature agreed and they grew as planned!

OK, I'm done singing ... but isn't this just the coolest thing? Mama Artichoke and one of her triplets are seen above. I had planted Cardoons in this same bed quite a few years ago and they grew spectacularly so I thought I'd give an artichoke a try. I really didn't expect it to produce but as I was moving rocks the other day, I happened to glance over in that direction and saw that Mother Nature had been generous. I plan to harvest them later today and serve them tonight so I need to do a little recipe research. Any ideas?

Comments

Anonymous said…
We were walking home from a restaurant last night and saw something we thought might be an artichoke. As I can't remember ever seeing an artichoke that wasn't displayed on the grocery shelves we were unsure. Thanks for confirming. Serendipity that!

And congrats on growing this amazing plant. What time of year did you plant it and did you grow it from seeds or buy a plant. (As you can tell I'm intrigued with the artichoke--it's a very good-looking plant.)
April 26, 2008 at 12:26 PM
Cindy, MCOK said…
Mss, serendipity indeed! Glad I posted about it. I bought a one gallon plant at a local nursery but being remiss in my record keeping, don't remember exactly when. I'm thinking last September but it could have been as early as May 2007. I planted it between Mutabilis and Madame Antoine Mari in the rose bed, and the placement highlights my unfortunate tendency to underestimate mature size. It's even offset another plant (yikes). Still & all, I'm glad I didn't give up on it. They really are gorgeous plants and I'll bet they would do great in Austin.
April 26, 2008 at 12:40 PM
The Diva said…
Ooh, I'd just steam them and then drizzle with a little olive oil and kosher salt.~~Dee
April 28, 2008 at 4:41 PM
Cindy, MCOK said…
Dee, I steamed Big Mama and served her with lemon butter. She had a very sweet and tasty heart. The little ones would probably have fared better had I steamed them. I quartered and then sauteed them with garlic. They were inedible ::: sigh :::.
April 28, 2008 at 6:18 PM
Gail said…
cindy, wow, that is a great story with a happy ending...Horthead meets a plant, forgets about it and later stumbles upon it and they have dinner! Sorry, the Cinderella theme is still in my head! That is so cool to have artichokes growing.

Gail
April 30, 2008 at 8:26 AM
Cindy, MCOK said…
Gail, you remind me, I need to check on the remaining artichoke and see what kind of progress it's made since last weekend. Hopefully it will be able to join me for dinner soon!
April 30, 2008 at 8:49 AM
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