Nonna's Stuffed Artichokes ___

Nonna's Stuffed Artichokes

Ingredients

For the Artichokes:

  • 4 medium fresh artichokes
  • 1 cup grated pecorino cheese
  • 0.5 cup lain bread crumbs
  • 2 large eggs
  • 3 cloves garlic chopped finely
  • 1 tablespoon fresh parsley
  • milk, as much as needed
  • salt & pepper as desired
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 pound peas
  • 1 medium onion
  • 0.5 pound pancetta thinly sliced

Directions

Clean the artichokes by removing the harder outer leaves, trim and unpeel the stem and cut  the top part of the leaves as they may have thorns. The remaining leaves should be pale green.Wash and drain the artichokes well.
Cut each artichoke in half and put in a bowl with cold water to avoid that they turn dark.

In a bowl, mix the cheese, bread crumbs, eggs,  3 tablespoons of EV olive oil, garlic, parsley, salt & pepper as desired. If the mix is too hard, add a little milk.  The mix should have a soft consistency but not runny.

In a baking pan, add the peas at the bottom together with the onion and the pancetta. Salt and pepper as desired.

Add 3 rablespoons  of EV olive oil.

Take each artichoke's half, add a lump of mix to cover the entire  cut surface of the artichoke. Position the artichoke in the bed of peas. Stuff all your artichokes.

Add 1-2 cups of water to the pan enough to cover half of the artichoke.

Preheat the oven at 350F.

Put the pan on the stove and let the water come to a boil. Transfer the pan to the oven and cook for about 20-30 minutes. depending on the size of the artichokes. If necessary switch the oven to broil to give a golden color to the artichokes.

Serve hot!