Make a sauce with 2 cups of milk, 1 tablespoon of butter mixed with 1 of flour, 2 yolks of eggs, and pepper and salt, and when thickened add 2 tablespoons of sherry, and 3 cups of sliced boiled artichokes, and ½ cup of blanched chopped almonds. Serve on toast or in cases.
FRENCH OR GLOBE ARTICHOKES
The globe artichoke is a most delicious addition to a vegetarian menu, and it is not because it is not known to be edible, but because many people do not know how either to eat it or to serve it, that it is not oftener seen in America. I have had it served to me in almost every European country and often in restaurants in America, and have never encountered but one cook who knew how it should be sent to the table after cooking, and one waiter who knew how to serve it when it got there. It is usually served half cold with the leaves falling all about it because the “thistle,” and usually the best of the artichoke besides, has been carelessly removed in the kitchen; instead of which it should be served whole, as in this way only can it be kept hot enough to be palatable. The artichoke should be set stem end downward on a hot, flat dish and wound about at the base with a small table napkin, and the person who serves it, holding it in the napkin, should reverse it and taking a small, sharp, silvered knife should cut through the artichoke on the bottom, using a sawing motion, and with the help of a serving fork ease apart the “thistle” and the closely knitted small leaves in the centre. Unless the artichokes are very large ones, a half of one is not too much to serve each person. The “thistle” should be removed by the server, and this should be done by carefully separating it from the “fond” or base, which is the fleshy part from which the leaves grow out. The leaves should be taken one by one, by the dry tip, in the fingers, and the fleshy end thus pulled from the base should be dipped in the sauce served, and the soft portion removed by drawing it between the front teeth; when the leaves are finished the base should be cut up with a fork and eaten with the sauce.
TO STEAM GLOBE ARTICHOKES
Prepare for cooking as in the above recipe, place in a covered steamer, and let steam forty minutes or until the leaves, when pulled, part easily from the base.
TO BOIL GLOBE ARTICHOKES
Globe artichokes should not look dry and wrinkled when bought, but green and fresh. Put them in cold salted water and a little vinegar for fifteen minutes to cleanse and free from insects, then put them in salted boiling water and boil until the leaves part easily from the base when pulled; this should be in about half an hour, but the time varies with the age and size of the artichoke; it should then be drained and the stem cut off so that it will stand erect on the serving dish.