Sunday, November 28, 2010

You'll Heart This Artichoke Gratin

This easy, all-veggie appetizer idea is proof you don't have to make a dish, to reinvent it. For all the millions of meals I've cooked and/or eaten, I can't remember ever having cooked and/or eaten an artichoke gratin.

From what I've seen, it's usually made in a shallow baking dish like any other vegetable casserole, and always features some form of crispy, caramelized gratin topping. So, while I can’t claim to have made the original, I was pretty sure it would translate to a nice, small party bite.

I made this as a last-minute appetizer at Thanksgiving, but fried it in a skillet to get the crusty coating on the artichokes. This time I went to the broiler with even better, and less messy results.

This would make a great hors d'oeuvre at any holiday gathering, and as you'll see in the video, a deviled eggs tray makes for a cool serving platter. By the way, extra credit for getting the "bacon of eggs" joke in the recipe.

Of course, this can also be served as an extra special side dish with just about any main course. I hope you give these easy and delicious artichoke hearts a try. Enjoy!




Artichoke Hearts Gratin Ingredients:

Makes 12 halves
6 artichoke hearts, drained
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
2-3 tablespoon plain breadcrumbs
1/4 cup finely grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
1 tablespoon olive oil
lemon

22 comments:

Liana @ femme fraiche said...

So simply and yet it looks so delicious! Great video!

Katie said...

Mmm...must..make...this. Yummy.
Of course, that will mean finding a few other people who like artichoke hearts, which may be hard. I suppose I could just make a few for myself if that doesn't work out. :) I definitely appreciate this recipe for its easily adjustable quantity.

Anonymous said...

Aioli. For dipping.

Design Lab 443 said...

This looks yummy and easy to make!! I can't wait to make it!

Anonymous said...

"but then again I don't have alot going on" lol loving your sense of humor, bacon bits in there, could it work?

Anonymous said...

Oh, MAN!!! I don't get the extra credit! Not unusual for me, though. Punch lines tend to elude me. PLEASE help me with this!!

Help me, Rhonda. Help, help me Rhonda.

Wow, please forgive me. It's 2:45 am. I can't sleep--I'm having a beer--what can I say?

BTW, I'm so gonna make this recipe. It looks perfect as is but I may make some hollandaise to dip them in-depends if I'm feeling a little low on cholesterol at the time.

Thanks so much for all you do!

Jackie

Arudhi said...

wow, I`m so going to make this. guess I need sambal to eat this kind of savory dish. thing is I can`t find artichoke here. does bamboo shoot sound alright for a substitute?

Anonymous said...

Only improvements that comes to my mind for these delish nibbles is to either stuff/top it with crab meat, or wrap it in bacon or pancetta & use shaved gruyere instead of parm (cause bacon makes everything better), or place a small slice of med-rare beef tenderloin on it with the gratin and serve with some bearnaise sauce on the side... How does that sound Chef? When can I attend your online school to learn the other mother sauces? I got your cookbook--it rocks! :)

Food Junkie said...

Tasty and easy, how can you lose? I think there is some rule however that all holiday hors d'oeuvres must be wrapped in bacon?

One way to modify this would be make up your spinach and artichoke dip (without the artichokes) and top each artichoke with a spoonful of dip and some cheese before broiling. Sort of bite sized artichoke dips.

Chef John said...

Jackie, the joke is deviled eggs being over used, like bacon is now, so they are "the bacon of eggs" :-)

Anonymous said...

okay i tried this tonite as a tester for a weekend party... i'm not a great cook but this looked soooo easy...

got the TJ arties and REAL cheese but used panko b/c the plain bread crumbs i had looked like the bugs got 'em... i think that was my 1st mistake...

i say 1st b/c my cheese was definitely more "dry" looking than what's in the video... and my grater made a finer shred... looked like the stuff u put in the bottom of the easter basket but i forged on...

high on my (electric oven) broiler had 'em smokin' in less that 2 mins...

b/c it was such a dry (and by now burnt) topping i was able to pick it off and put a bit more cheese on them but no OO in round 2 b/c my smoke alarm is still screaming

turned my broiler to low and lowered the rack... didn't burn this time but the panko-cheese blend never melted into that dreamy chessey yumminess i saw in the video :(

so my record remains unblemished :)

but since i am not only a lousy cook but a persistent cook i will try again... i have until friday after all...

next time i'll take the batteries out of my smoke alarm... use the proper bread crumbs and a softer parm blend (i even thought that a shred of mozzarella mite have saved me this time)

instead of OO i think i may try to blend the bread crumbs with some mayo too as my daughter dipped this batch in some to make 'em palatable...

i shall not be defeated :/

BTW also doing the prosciutto wrapped asparagus for friday... THAT i have mastered

and my daughter begs for the peach bruchetta...

(how fun is it to cook using something from the hardware store)

thanks for the great inspiration

Chef John said...

Thank you! I love your attitude!

Anonymous said...

Our local Costco is carrying lg jars, twice the size of the Trader Joes brand, of water packed artichoke hearts, sans stems. (2 jars per purchase) They look very nice. I will try this with them.

Anonymous said...

Chef John - can this be prepared in advance, and if so, how far in advance?

Thanks & Happy Holidays

Chef John said...

best if made right before, but you can prep a few hours before, and broil before serving.

Anonymous said...

Just watched this video and it sounds so good, but I've never had artichke heart before, what does it taste like? And could I make this with fresh artichokes after cooking them?

Chef John said...

sort of like potato cross with asparagus, but not really. too hard! You can use fresh artichoke, but only the heart will work.

Rich Stillwell said...

Just made a test run for Christmas...
They are good. Used the Trader Joe's Hearts.
Success!
http://richstillwell.com/images/artichokegratin.jpg

Penny Auction Bidding said...

Simply delicious!!

Anonymous said...

Hi Chef John- I've been watching your videos on Allrecipes and love them! I gave this recipe a try because it looked really good and easy too. It definitely was both! I made it for myself for lunch since I rarely have guests over and my children refuse to try new things, so I figured- more for me! I am glad I didn't have to share because I ate the whole recipe myself! Yum. Thanks you! I look forward to trying more of your recipes!

vbmcrtw said...

I just tried this recipe, and its really good! I only broiled them for maybe 5 minutes, but they turned out really well. I think next time I would like to add a little garlic and maybe a small dab of cream cheese before broiling them. Thank you! I'm loving your recipes so far...

Unknown said...

Blast! My local TJ's doesn't seem to have the whole artichoke hearts. Anyone find these elsewhere?