The stuffed artichokes in puff pastry crust are a real delicacy, combining the main course and side dish in a single dish. They are very tasty, easy, and practical to prepare; the filling and boiled artichokes, in fact, can also be prepared in advance. The artichokes, “dressed up” in this way, are beautiful to see and present to our guests. Generally, I use small artichokes because they are more tender and can be completely enclosed in puff pastry. If, however, you have larger artichokes, it is better to divide them into two parts, coating and stuffing each half with puff pastry.
- Difficulty: Very Easy
- Cost: Medium
- Portions: 4
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Autumn, Winter, and Spring
Ingredients
- 2 rolls rectangular puff pastry
- 8 small artichokes (or 4 large)
- 2 tablespoons dry white wine
- to taste fresh chopped parsley
- 5.3 oz prosciutto or speck (cut into thin, small strips)
- 3.5 oz fresh provolone cheese, diced (or other cheese)
- 1.8 oz gorgonzola with mascarpone
- to taste fine salt
- to taste pepper
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 0.8 cup water
Steps
Start by cleaning the artichokes, removing all the harder outer leaves and trimming them (i.e., eliminating the tips) almost halfway up the artichoke.
Wash them under running water and place them, upside down, in a large saucepan containing 0.8 cup (about 200 milliliters) of water, 2 tablespoons of white wine, and a pinch of fine salt. Cover and boil the artichokes on medium-low heat for about 20 minutes (if they are large, it will take about 30 minutes).
Check occasionally with a fork because they should become tender but not mushy. Then, turn off the heat, drain them well with a skimmer, transfer them to a plate, and let them cool completely. The cooking liquid should not be thrown away; instead, we can use it to season pasta, rice, etc.
In the meantime, prepare the filling. Blend the parsley, prosciutto, a pinch of ground pepper, cheeses, and milk together until a soft mixture is obtained.
Unroll the puff pastry rolls (it may not be necessary to use both, but I always prefer to have a spare one), roll them out even thinner with a rolling pin, and cut squares about 4.7 inches (12 cm) per side for the small artichokes; 5.9/7.1 inches (15/18 cm) for larger ones.
Take the cold artichokes, make sure there is no cooking liquid inside them, gently open them in the center and fill them with a teaspoon (first photo on the left), pressing the filling well inside.
Place each artichoke on a puff pastry square, join the opposite corners of the square two by two, as seen in the center photos, until creating a sort of pyramid.
Seal the gaps along the edges simply by pressing the dough with your fingers.
Finally, roll up the excess dough of each vertex of our small “pyramid” (third photo on the right) and place them on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.
Proceed until all the ingredients are used up.
To ensure that the puff pastry puffs up as it should during baking, after finishing forming the artichokes, put them in the fridge, for 30 minutes, in their tray, covered with plastic wrap (puff pastry is sensitive to heat and the warmth of hands).
Bake the artichokes at mid-height in a hot oven at 392°F (200°C) for about 25 minutes or until they turn golden. Remove from oven and serve them either hot or cold, depending on the needs, because they are delicious both ways.
Bon appetit
