Cream of Artichoke Soup

* Exported from MasterCook *

Cream of Artichoke Soup

Recipe By : Duarte's restaurant in Pescadero, CA
Serving Size : 1 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Soups & Stews

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
6 large artichokes -- up to 8
1 onion -- diced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 cloves garlic
2 cups chicken stock
1 cups heavy cream

From: rshoup@oracle.com (Randy Shoup)
You are probably referring to Duarte's restaurant in Pescadero, CA, which
is justifiably famous both for its artichoke soup and for its olallieberry
pie. (Apparently locals pronounce the name "DU-art's", as opposed to
"duARte's" -- very odd) My SO and I have been to Duarte's many times, and
on more than one occasion have planned trips around being there at
mealtimes (one time twice in a day). The most recent time, we noticed up
on the wall an old yellowing newspaper article about the place which
contained the recipe for their artichoke soup. We each memorized half,
and wrote it down immediately once we got back to the car. The following
is an adaptation: Prepare the artichokes for steaming: Remove and discard
tough outer leaves of the artichokes. From the top, scoop out and discard
the innermost section, along with the stringy thistle part above the
heart. You should be left with most of the leaves together with the
heart. (Sorry about the lack of clarity here. This is the standard
Italian way to prepare artichokes for steaming, though, and many cookbooks
-- including _The_Joy_of_Cooking_ and Marcella Hazan's
_Classical_Italian_Cooking_ -- have clearer explanations and pictorial
diagrams describing this process.) Bring 1-2" of water to boil in a pot
large enough for all the artichokes. Add garlic, salt, pepper, bay leaf, 2
tbl of the lemon juice, and oil. Place artichokes on steaming apparatus in
pot, cover tightly, and steam 30-40 minutes. Remove artichokes and allow
them to cool sufficiently to be handled. Scrape the tender artichoke
"meat" from the inside of each leaf (I use a heavy knife for this). If
the steamed artichokes are particularly tender, you may be able to
dispense with the scraping and just cut off the top portions of the
leaves. Puree the artichoke "meat" and artichoke hearts with the onion and
chicken stock. Add final tbl of lemon juice. Simmer over low heat for ~1
hour. Add cream, adjust salt and pepper, and serve.




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