Roasted artichokes with truffled poached eggs

We are going to prepare the body and make a detox diet, but tasty. How? With these roasted artichokes with truffled poached eggs. A seasonal recipe, now we can find fantastic artichokes in the market, with few ingredients and really easy to make.

To serve we will make truffled poached eggs. If you have already taken a look to the photos, you won´t see truffle… I have used instead a white truffle salt with an incredible taste and aroma. Enough to get a potent taste, but without cost us an arm and a leg.

Artichokes, that are a kind of thistle, gives a beautiful flower with a succulent core, circled by several layers of petals (that are edible too when they are closer to the core). They proceed from Western Mediterranean and were introduced and cultivated in many countries.

Dutch people introduced artichokes in England, and in 1530 began to be cultivated in Boreham, Essex, at the Henry VII palace garden. In the United States they were introduced in the s. XVIII through Louisiana by the French and California by the Spaniards.

It is a vitamin C source which helps strengthen our immune system and combat free radicals. Rich in fibre, potassium and K vitamin.

Poached eggs are a great invention, if you have not taste them yet, you should! They will be ready in 4 minutes and can be served with a lot of ingredients. They are great serve with vegetables, salads, fried potatoes, toast…

Ideally serve these artichokes freshly cooked. But if you make them in advance, you only have to heat them for a few minutes before serve.

When you are ready to cook poached eggs, I recommend, to boil in pairs. you will need a ramekin or small bowl, film and olive oil (or a other kind of vegetable oil). This method ensure that the will be always round. when the first pair is cooking, you can prepare the ramekins for the remaining eggs.

Let´s go to see how to make this easy and healthy recipe.

ROASTED ARTICHOKES WITH TRUFFLED POACHED EGGS:

2 serves

FOR ARTICHOKES:

• 6 large artichokes
• 1-2 lemons
• sea salt
• dash of olive oil

FOR THE POACHED EGGS:

• 4 large eggs
• olive oil
• white truffle Guérande grey salt
• chopped chives (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS:

Make roasted artichokes.

1. Preheat oven at 375ºF.
2. Clean artichokes. With a sharp knife trim any dry stem end from the bottom of the artichoke. Remove tough outer leaves from the bottom of the artichoke and cut  1 inch from the top of each artichoke.
   
3. Cut artichokes in halves, squeeze with lemon and place them over a baking sheet. Press the leaves gently back so that the artichoke opens.
   
   
4. Pour gentle olive oil over them and salt.
   
5. Bake for 40-50 minutes (it will depend from the artichokes size) or until artichokes are tender, you can know it pierce them with a fork. Half-way through cooking, cover with a sheet of aluminium foil to avoid get too golden brown. They will finish the cooking with some steam.
6. Remove from the oven and let sit.

Make poached eggs.

1. Fill a medium pot with water and place over medium high heat. Let until water is boiling.
2. Cut a film plastic square, place over a ramekin or small bowl and grease well with olive oil.
3. Pour the egg inside and pick the ends to make a bag. Turn and close with clip.
   
   
4. Place into the boiling water from 4 minutes.
5. Remove from the water with a slotted spoon and place under cold water.
6. Remove the clip, cut the plastic end with a scissors (it will be stuck due to the heat) and open the film with care until remove completely.
7. Repeat with the remaining eggs.

Serve.

1. Divide roasted artichokes into 2 dishes..
2. Place, carefully, two poached eggs in each dish.
3. Sprinkle with the white truffle salt, chopped chives (if you wish) and serve immediately with a good slice from sourdough bread.
   

TIPS:

• To avoid artichokes get brown is important to use fresh lemon over them. You must rub them with a half lemon at the precise moment that you cut them.
• Artichokes time cooking will depend from their size. To know if they are cooked, piece them in the middle with a fork, they ,must be tender but not too.
• Can I cook them other way? Of course, if you wish you can fry or boil them.
• Poached eggs  can be cooked with film or directly on boiling water with a dash of vinegar, which provide a better coagulation.
• Is it important to grease the film before boil them? Yes, absolutely. If you don´t make this way, it will be too difficult remove the film from the eggs. And you can break them.
• Eggs, time cooking, is it different with a size or other? Yes. I share with you the exact time for large eggs (not extra large), but if you use medium eggs, for example, it will be less time. Not too much, maybe 30 seconds. I recommend you to make tests.
• Can I make fried eggs instead? Of course! There isn´t nothing better than a fried egg with its edge crunchy 😉
• If I haven´t got white truffle salt… It does not matter, you can use common salt or sea salt. This kind of salt gives a great flavor and aroma, but the principal character in this recipe is artichoke.

I can not think a best seasonal recipe that roasted artichokes, well, artichokes cook in any way. But this recipe is really simple and we can enjoy like kids!

Enjoy!
Eva

Sources: Wikipedia, Bonnie plants.