I love artichokes. A lot. But I do not make them often because Marc despises them. We’re talking mortal enemies. He can sense from two days out if I steamed an artichoke while he was away for the weekend, so clearly, I only serve this Artichoke and Preserved Lemon Soup when he’s not around. The funny part is that of the two of us, artichokes should be my mortal enemy. The great artichoke debacle of 2007 occurred due to the perfect storm of Marc at a conference in Chicago, an overabundance of fresh baby artichokes and too many late night episodes on the food network. Feeling inspired by a delicious looking plate of fried artichoke hearts and the fact that I had all the ingredients on hand, I decided that late night frying was the most natural path to a delicious midnight snack. I was a very inexperienced fryer at the time but recently had great success with fried chicken. I had my big bottle of frying oil and filled my fancy schmancy stock pot with oil, turned it on and carried the artichokes out to the living room where I could clean them from the comfort of my couch while watching the conclusion of the artichoke recipe. Unfortunately, I promptly fell asleep and things went downhill from there. Apparently, there are good reasons not to leave a pot of oil on the stove unattended. I woke up, looked around blearily and slowly the project at hand came back to me. Upon seeing the bowl of cleaned artichokes on my coffee table I sprinted to the kitchen to check on the pot of oil. I naively opened the kitchen door without a gas mask. A wall of black smoke crashed into me and started burning my eyes and lungs. I slammed the door shut, slid down the wall in defeat and began to formulate a cleanup plan. Step one involved reaching into the kitchen and turning off the gas burner. Repeat door slam retreat. Step two was ski goggle and fan retrieval. I army crawled into the kitchen while holding my breath and opened the back door and the kitchen window and then escaped out the back door. On my fourth trip into the kitchen, I was able to set up the fans to blow the air out of the kitchen. Once the air was vaguely safe to breathe it was time to begin phase two. Burnt boiling oil disposal with a preference for salvaging my copper-core stockpot. Granted, it was really late. My brain scorched by the black smoke, I decided I needed to cool the oil down enough to get the pot out of the house and into the back yard. And the best way to do this? Lobbing vegetables into the pot from a distance. I know. That’s a REALLY, REALLY bad plan. But it’s what I went with. It turns out that large russet potatoes do cool burning oil quickly. But they also splash a giant mess of impossible to clean nastiness everywhere. I think I went to bed at 5am. Every fabric surface in my home had to be washed. The kitchen was stripped, washed, bleached. Traumatic. Not in the hyperbolic use of the word. I promise not to give you that recipe. But, in order to fully enjoy the Meyer lemons I made you preserve and so that you can fulfill some of your artichoke needs, here’s a lovely soup that’s perfect for winter- it calls for root vegetables, frozen artichokes and of course, Dirty Laundry Kitchen preserved lemons. Artichoke and Preserved Lemon Soup is perfect for ladies luncheons, and cold winter nights.
- 2 cups diced onion
- 1 fennel bulb diced
- 1 ½ pounds (3) russet potatoes, peeled and rough chopped
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 8 cups chicken or vegetable stock to cover
- 1 cup white wine
- 24 oz frozen artichoke hearts (I find them at Trader Joe’s)
- 1 preserved lemon seeds removed
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- salt to taste
- artichoke gremolata (optional)
- Sauté the onions and fennel in olive oil in an 8 quart stock pot. When softened add 1 teaspoon salt and the garlic. Add the white wine and cook down to the softened vegetables. Add the potatoes.
- Cover with the stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer 20 minutes. Potatoes should be softening.
- Add the frozen artichoke hearts and the preserved lemon. Cook on medium low for another 15 minutes.
- Purée the soup until smooth and velvety. I use an immersion blender right on the stove in the pot I cooked it in- this way there's fewer dishes. But a blender or food processor work just as well- just process in batches.
- Return to the pot for a final seasoning and cook for a few more minutes.
- You can serve it as is, but due to the color, it doesn't look as good as it tastes. To serve it for guests I slice artichoke bottoms thinly and layer on top with parsley and serve it with brioche rolls - perfection.
Or I make artichoke gremolata.
- This recipe can be cut in half, or in third, or quartered very easily. I just always make lots of soup at a time and freeze it in four cup containers- how very pantry tips of me.
- 1 lemon; peeled and segmented
- 1 large artichoke bottom
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
- salt to taste
- Dice the artichoke into 1 centimeter squares. Dice the lemon. Mix the lemon, artichoke, parsley, salt, and oil in a small bowl. Spoon on top of the soup to serve.
Hilarious! Hadn’t heard this debacle story before, but I’d love to hear it again someday in person. When the story teller is up for some entertainment!
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oh wow – that does not sound like fun! I am happy you still work with artichokes, because this looks incredible! I cannot wait to try!
Me too! And this one’s really easy.
Oh wow – what a traumatic kitchen story! But this soup looks delicious!
It’s really easy too, no trauma ahead.
now yours is a real kitchen nightmare for sure, I can almost smell it. glad you can still enjoy an artichoke after all that, because this soup sounds wonderful
Wow! I can’t believe you survived that story! I don’t know that I’d work with artichokes again.
I grew up with a couple of artichoke bushes in the backyard. You wouldn’t believe how many artichokes we had around the house in peak season! We always ate them plain dipped in butter which is divine, of course, but there comes a point where you just can’t eat them all this way. Fresh artichoke recipes have always intrigued me because of this. This recipe looks like a great way to use up some artichokes.
Oh man, I’d love to have artichoke bushes. That sounds so cool. Dipped in butter is great for those of us who don’t get them all the time, but lucky you, variety is definitely in order.
What a lovely idea. I’ve made hundreds of different soups over the years but never an artichoke soup. Will definitely try this. (But wow, what an experience. Traumatic indeed.)
That’s one traumatic kitchen story! I don’t know what I would have done. Probably ran out of the house and called the fire department. I’m so scared of hot oil it’s ridiculous. For good reason though. My mother owned a cafe when I was in high school and I dropped a pot of hot oil all over me. A trip to the emergency room and one of the worst pains I’ve ever felt left me with a phobia of hot oil! On the plus side this soup sounds fantastic!
Hmm… It sounds like maybe solving it myself wasn’t the best plan. I can definitely say I’ve learned my lesson though. Frying is serious business. Enjoy the (not fried) soup!