Baby artichokes are simply adorbs and you can use way more of whole veggie itself than of full-grown chokes. Not surprisingly, there aren’t an overwhelming number of pickled artichoke recipes to be found – this I followed to some extent – and in truth, the “brine” has a significant amount of olive oil in it so you could also think of these as marinated artichokes. But the mixture does contain salt and vinegar, so technically a brine and therefore technically a pickle. You could say this is a marinate/brine hybrid; a marinine if you will.
Similar to pickled sunchokes, if you want to retain the color of the baby artichokes, put them in a bowl of acidulated water after trimming. Another note is that you could easily switch up the herbs and spices for this recipe. Just think anything that pairs well with Mediterranean flavors and, perhaps more importantly, nothing tiny and harsh like whole peppercorns that could get caught in the crevices of the artichokes and cause an unexpected and unwanted flavor sensation if bit into.
Pickled Baby Artichoke Recipe
Makes 1 quart
Ingredients:
- 1 cup white wine vinegar
- 1/2 cup lemon juice
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1 tbsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp dried herbs (basil, thyme or oregano are all good options)*
- 1 small dried hot pepper
- 2 garlic cloves
- ~15 baby artichokes / ~3 1/2 lbs
- Water with 1 lemon, juiced
*You could also use fresh herbs. Really, so many flava flavs would pair well with this.
- Bring the vinegar, lemon juice, olive oil and salt to a simmer until salt dissolves. Set aside and let cool.
- Time to prepare the artichokes. First, fill a bowl with water and juice of one lemon. Peel off the outer leaves of the artichokes until you get to the lighter green innards.
- Trim off tops and bottoms. At this point, you can see some parts of the artichokes are starting to oxidize.
- Place artichokes into lemon water and soak.
- Add herbs of choice, dried pepper and garlic cloves into jar.
- Drain artichokes and add to jar.
- Cover vinegar and oil mixture over jar. Cover with lid and shake to distribute herbs and/or spices.
- Recommended use: Like store-bought marinated artichokes, these are great in salads or on a cheese plate; could also be added to a simple pasta dish (first time I’ve ever suggested pickles with pasta!).
I love marinated art ❤️s and can’t wait to try these.
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