Turkish style artichoke hearts recipe

This Turkish dish is known as Zeytinyağlı Enginar, literally “artichokes with olive oil”. This is a very refreshing traditional starter that is usually served cold and can be found on a mezze table.

This recipe requires completely clean artichoke hearts. If you got fresh artichokes, discard the leaves and the stem, and remove the “hairs” that cover the heart with a spoon. Immerse them immediately in lemon water to prevent them from oxidizing.

However, it’s possible to take a shortcut and use clean hearts that are sold in jars or frozen, they are very easy to get in Turkish supermarkets.

Having cleaned the hearts, proceed to cut the carrot, potato, onion and celery stalk into small cubes. Boil all vegetables together with the hearts until the latter are tender. The cooking time varies according to their size and can be extended up to half an hour. Add salt at your wish. In the last 5-7 minutes add the peas. Strain and reserve until the ingredients have cooled.

Serve the hearts by placing a little of the vegetables in its cavity, seasoning with freshly ground pepper, lemon, extra virgin olive oil and a little dill on top.

Alternative cooking methods:

1. It is possible to add a little olive oil during cooking, honoring the original name of this dish.
2. It is also usual to add the juice of an orange when cooking (eventually with the juice of a lemon as well).
3. Sometimes half of the dill is added a few minutes before the end of cooking, but like with some other green herbs, I find that it loses some of its freshness and flavor.
4. Lastly, I would like to point out that I’ve found some recipes without the potato, although I have never seen this dish served in that way in Istanbul.

Tips and tricks:

1. This dish offers all its flavor and freshness when served cold.
2. Do not discard the broth resulting from cooking, which can be used to enrich stews, cook rice dishes, etc.
3. It is important to cut the vegetables into small cubes, in order to fill the cavity of the artichokes as shown in the photo.
4. The exact amounts go to the taste. In Turkey, just a single unit is usually served as a starter, but you can find really big artichokes there.