Product Description
Title : COME UN CARCIOFO
“I quaderni del mangiar sano”, the very popular series now at its seventh t…
Maker of product: Gian Luigi Corinto/ Felice La Rocca
Format: 11,8X15,8
n° pages: 64
marzo 2005
The artichoke, Cynara scolimus, is one of the most useful and wholesome Mediterranean plants, famous for its use in the kitchen and already known to the Etruscans for its important therapeutic properties. It belongs to the family of the Composite plants, like the common daisy and the sunflower. In addition to vitamins, mineral salts, a lot of fibre and low sugar content, the artichoke contains pharmacologically active principles such as Cynarin, especially in the head leaves which are the part of the plant used most often in cooking. Available in various varieties, it is rich in medicinal properties such as those of significantly increasing the flow of bile, improving digestion, and lowering the levels of cholesterol and triglycerides. It is always a good idea to buy artichokes fresh in May-July. The consumer can indulge himself in choosing from a wide variety of heads, from the thorny, elongated violet-coloured ones to the globular, thornless, green variety or any from the vast assortment of cultivars in Italy. The recipes the authors propose come mainly from the regional culinary tradition, though several were gathered from the living voices of housewives, and given their simplicity, present no particular difficulty of preparation. They can indeed be prepared by anyone with a bare minimum of kitchen sense. In the saucepan, with sea-bass and potatoes, with bacon Roman style, with scallops in wine sauce, stuffed in various ways, or in sauces for spaghetti, tagliatelle and rice, or simply in an omelette, right up to exquisite bitters and decoctions. The more, the merrier …