Ozarks Local, page 4:
Section: Your Kitchen
Make your recipes famous!
By S.G. Rainbolt
Ozarks Local is calling all local bread makers, potato salad swappers, and everything that's good to the nose and tummy!
Send in your recipes to be published on this page. Any dish spicy or sweet! Make your casserole the talk for the town! Be herald as the best chef in the kitchen, or anyone's kitchen for that matter!
Include the ingredients, directions for preparation, and any helpful hints to give the dish the ol' salute. Don't forget to name your recipe before you send it to us so you will be given credit for you tutelage.
Deadline for all articles is the 15th of each month. You can send your articles or ideas a few ways:
1)Email, file must be saved as a text document (.txt), ozarksfamilynews@hotmail.com or
2)Mail, GPD Publishing, ATTN: Writing Dept, PMB 220 320 Ichord Ave. Ste. H, Waynesville, MO 65583.
Artichokes are back in season
By Philomena Corradeno
Aahhh! Artichokes. The fall harvest is coming to market and will continue for a while. Come spring, a second crop will be ready. Now you'll find plenty of medium and baby sizes from Castroville, Calif., the artichoke capital of the world, where Ocean Mist Farms grows most of our supply.
For those who have never cooked or tasted this strange-looking veggie, let's have a look at it. It is one -- maybe the only -- vegetable you are allowed to squeeze, because the squeak it emits tells you it's fresh. As an old Italian produce man once told me, a fresh artichoke "sings.
This sturdy vegetable is divided into three marvelous parts. The bottom, sometimes incorrectly called the heart, is considered the greatest delicacy. While I urge you to cook arties yourself, bottoms are available and ready to use in cans and jars, in oil or lightly salted water, and frozen. The light green center leaves, just a little lower in prestige, are tender and fully edible. Tucked in under these is the fuzzy choke, which is discarded after cooking. Finally, there are the outer rugged green leaves that, pulled inner side down over the lower teeth, make the artichoke a chic finger food.
Usual instructions are to cut off the top third of the petals. We use scissors to cut off only the thorny end of the petals. To retain color, it's best to use a non-reactive pan and water acidulated with lime or lemon juice or a little vinegar.
In the recipe today we cut the artichoke in half lengthwise to reduce cooking time and make the removal of the choke easier. Cooked halves are filled with rice, lentils and feta cheese for a Mediterranean flavor.
LENTIL & RICE STUFFED ARTICHOKES
4 medium artichokes
2 cups water
1 lemon, sliced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 clove garlic, halved
1 (6.9-ounce) package rice pilaf mix*
1 cup red lentils
1 medium tomato, chopped
4 ounces Feta cheese, crumbled
1/2 cup chopped Italian parsley
Black pepper and salt to taste
Rinse artichokes under running cold water. Cut off top third of petals and only very end of stem. Cut artichokes in half from top to bottom. Place halved artichokes, cut-side down, in large skillet or 9-by-13-inch non-aluminum baking pan. Add water, lemon slices, olive oil and garlic. For skillet cooking, cover and heat over medium-high heat to boiling; reduce to simmer; cook until a petal near center of artichoke pulls out easily, about 15 minutes. For oven, cover pan with foil and bake in preheated 375 F oven 15 to 20 minutes. Lift artichokes from water; drain. When cool enough to handle, scoop out fuzzy choke and yellow leaves in center of each half and discard.
Meanwhile, prepare rice pilaf according to package directions, adding lentils to rice to cook. Stir in tomato, Feta, parsley, pepper and salt. Spoon into artichoke halves. Makes 4 servings.
*Such as Near East brand
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