Artichoke, artichoke, alcarcil ... Or, what is the same, artichoke.
We are facing one of the healthiest and most nutritious foods known.
Source of calcium, phosphorus, potassium, iron and vitamin B1 (also C and K), it is a digestive and purifying vegetable, a great
ally
of the liver, thanks to the
cynarin
it contains.
In addition, it helps prevent "
heart disease
and, as it lacks
bad
fats
, it favors the reduction of
cholesterol
levels,
" they explain from the Artichoke Association of Spain.
More benefits: it is rich in fiber and protein.
Well, its healthy qualities seem clear.
And the gastronomic ones?
Well, it does, and many.
Tasty and versatile, this vegetable can be used in multiple ways: cooked, grilled, stewed, as a garnish, raw, fried ... Be that as it may, its unique flavor makes it the protagonist of any dish, especially now that it is in season. .
In the capital there are a good handful of restaurants that at this time
turn
to it.
The chef Javier Mayor preparing the artichokes in Villa Verbena.
And it is that March is the "
perfect month to eat it
in its most splendorous moment. The artichoke is better the colder it is. When spring enters fully and it starts to get hot, it will no longer be the same", explains Óscar Ureña, chef executive of the El Pradal group, which has five restaurants in Madrid, Dogma, El Clásico, La Casita de El Pradal, Noi and El Pradal.
Precisely, in this last dining room (Lanzarote, 26. San Sebastián de los Reyes), they prepare them "
cooked, not candied
, and then fried because they are much juicier", Ureña points out.
They are sold individually (2.90 euros).
It is also one of the star products of the house of Juan Miguel Sola, specialized in Navarre cuisine.
Even the tables of La Manduca de Azagra (Sagasta, 14) arrive every day very fresh specimens from the family garden in Azagra (a beautiful town in Navarra).
"We make
fried
artichokes
, cooked and also with thistle
(in winter). Now, as spring starts, we will put them in our stew, which includes peas, peeled broad beans and asparagus. Wonderful," says Sola.
Cooked artichokes, in La Manduca de Azagra.
"The main thing is that the
shortest
possible
time
passes
from when they are collected until they reach the diner. Then it is essential to clean them a lot and very well, as with most vegetables. Finally, they must be prepared in elaborations without many ingredients so that shine. Our secret? We take them
very small
, we do not let them grow, as if they were a cocoon ", concludes the hotelier.
Prices: 15 euros.
Those offered in La Huerta de Tudela also come from their own crops (Prado, 15).
Ricardo Gil -founder of Restaurante 33, in Tudela- masterfully works with vegetables from the riverside of his hometown: borage, cardoons, leeks, asparagus ... and artichokes.
These days, in their dining room in Madrid they serve them candied at a low temperature, with a veil of Iberian jowls and artichoke muslin (18 euros).
With veil of Iberian dewlap, in La Huerta de Tudela.
And tudelanas are those that are dispatched in Betelu, a house specialized in traditional Basque-Navarre cuisine.
Located in the Quintana neighborhood (Florencio Llorente, 27), in this family dining room with more than
25 years of history they
make them grilled "and sautéed with a little Iberian ham. We cook them a little first and then they go on the grill. ", they clarify.
In Tierra de Queiles (Hermosilla, 7) -brother of the Navarrese Garden Navarra- they also bet on copies of the Autonomous Community.
Now they have
two recipes
: artichokes confit in virgin olive oil and then grilled (16 euros, four units) and as part of a rich
vegetable stew
(15 euros).
Grilled and with foie sauce, at Villa Verbena.
Navarra artichoke is also one of the great vegetable dishes served in the brand new Villa Verbena, an establishment that the
TriCiclo Group and The Hat Madrid
have just inaugurated in the Casa de Campo (Paseo María Teresa, 3).
After a meticulous cleaning process, Javier Mayor (responsible, together with Javier Goya and David Alfonso, of the menu of this restaurant next to the Casa de Campo Lake) cooks them on the grill and finishes them with foie sauce (23 euros The portion).
The unrepeatable
Sacha Hormaechea
-photographer, innkeeper, philosopher ...- conceives the dining room that his parents founded (Juan Hurtado de Mendoza, 11, later) as a place to sit at the table and begin to be happy ... For example, with its fried artichokes, which have been cooked in Sacha for
more than four decades
.
"They are peeled at the moment, and the heart is left. We laminate it and fry it in a pan, never in a deep fryer, with little salt because it reduces. Then, it drains well in a colander and is served".
Price: 16 euros.
Coal-fired at Roostiq. © Roostiq.
From Chamartín to Chueca, to Roostiq's "cooking on fire" (Augusto Figueroa, 47).
In this modern eating house, which has its main wires in the wood oven and the charcoal grill, they select the artichokes one by one.
"First we candied them and then we finished them in our wood oven. This process, in addition to respecting the
hydration
of the product, also gives it a
different texture
," they explain on their Instagram account.
Price: 15 euros.
Known is the passion that Juan López Bedmar feels for raw materials and his fidelity to the philosophy "less is more";
that is, use few ingredients so as not to mask the main product.
Thus, in La Tasquita de Enfrente (Ballesta, 6), Juanjo offers these days artichoke with thistle and also
in cream with fried artichokes
(23 and 21 euros).
From Tudela, of course.
And from Navarra they are the ones that María Luisa Banzo prepares with care, time and patience in La Cocina de María Luisa (Jorge Juan, 42).
La Soriana, in
addition to truffles and mushrooms
, wastes art with vegetables and if not, try their artichokes with boletus and foie mousse (20 euros).
Artichoke cream with fried artichokes, at La Tasquita de Enfrente.
We return to two other Navarran houses.
First, to that of the so-called King of vegetables, Floren Domezain from Tudela, who has been dedicated to the
recovery of native varieties for
more than three decades
.
In his restaurant in the Salamanca district (Castelló, 9) they are sold - from their own gardens in their homeland - candied, opened in flower and with oil and salt (18.50 euros).
Meanwhile, in the Basque-Navarrese dining room Ox's (Juan Ramón Jiménez, 11) they bet on cooking them
with clams
and grilled with ham (from 18.50 euros).
Artichokes with boletus and foie mousse, at La Cocina de María Luisa.
From the north we go to the south.
In Colósimo (José Ortega y Gasset, 67), the Romero brothers give the Andalusian touch to some confit artichokes that end
in green sauce with stew broth
(4.50 euros per unit).
And we close with Flores de Alcachofa, whose name is a tribute to one of the emblematic dishes of
El Pimiento Verde
restaurants
, a Basque cuisine group with the same name that has six other locations in Madrid.
Located on Paseo de la Castellana, number 40, this dining room offers up to
four versions
of artichoke
flowers
: the classic ones;
with anchovies from Santoña, land of olives and cream of piparras;
with boletus from the Pyrenees, piquillo tartare and truffle cream and with Iberian ham, payoyo cheese and salmorejo (prices: from 12 to 17 euros).
With anchovies from Santoña, land of olives and cream of piparras, in Flores de Alcachofa. © Flores de Alcachofa.
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