A delicious Calabrian artichoke casserole, a recipe I stole from my mom and prepare every year as an Easter tradition, just like my mom always does, only I enjoy making small changes each time to make it different yet more delicious. This time I added some Calabrian soppressata and smoked caciocavallo to the filling, other times I had prepared it only with mozzarella and fresh sausage. So you can also vary it to taste, but the base is always the same, artichokes for the base, which we can blanch or cook in a pan in a stew, and for the filling, eggs, meat, and cheeses, both grated, mozzarella, and smoked provola to enrich. So let’s see how to prepare it. You can find this recipe in the artichoke recipes collection.
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Medium
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 4-6
- Cooking methods: Stove, Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Spring, Easter
Ingredients for Calabrian artichoke casserole
- 4 artichokes
- 3.5 oz mozzarella
- 3.5 oz smoked provola
- 9 oz ground meat or fresh sausage
- 1.75 oz Calabrian salami
- 4 eggs
- to taste salt
- to taste pepper
- to taste olive oil
- to taste grated pecorino
- to taste grated grana
- 1 lemon
Tools to prepare the Calabrian artichoke casserole
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Pot
- 1 Baking dish
- 1 Fork
- 1 Knife
- 1 Cutting board
- 1 Colander
Steps to prepare Calabrian artichoke casserole
Place a pot of water on the stove and bring it to a boil, in the meantime clean the artichokes. Here is the tutorial on how to clean artichokes with video.
Take the tender parts of the artichokes, removing the outer leaves and the tips, keeping the tender part of the stem and peeling it, then cut it into quarters and remove the internal fluff. Immediately place in water with lemon juice to prevent browning.
Cook the drained artichokes in boiling water for about 10 minutes, until tender, then drain and let them cool. If you prefer, you can also cook stewed artichokes in a pan.
In a bowl, start by adding a couple of eggs, or if you want, add all 4. Add the ground meat, or if you prefer, fresh crumbled sausage. Add diced mozzarella and also finely chopped smoked provola. Add some salami, soppressata, or Calabrian sausage, diced small, chopped parsley, salt and pepper, and some grated cheeses, both grana and pecorino. Mix well.
In a 9-inch diameter dish, put some olive oil, add the artichokes to cover the whole base, add a little salt, and some finely chopped garlic if you like, then pour all the filling on top. Level it well with a spoon.
Bake in a preheated fan oven for about 20 minutes at 350°F.
Remove from the oven and enjoy. If there are leftovers, it can be reheated, even quickly in the microwave, but it’s also delicious cold, perhaps for the Easter Monday picnic. It can also be frozen, raw if the meat was not previously frozen, or cooked.
