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Inside The New York Botanical Garden

Mario Batali’s Kitchen Gardens: Nothing to ‘choke About!

Posted in Around the Garden on July 30 2012, by Ann Rafalko

ArtichokeArtichokes look vaguely dangerous and are difficult to eat and prepare, but enlightened eaters know that they are a very worthy labor of love.

I am a bit carcofi mad. I have loved them since I was a young child. I would request them every year for my birthday alongside a grilled steak until well into my 20s. How did I, a kid who grew up with food aversions just like any other kid, become hooked on such an unlikely vegetable? My mother simply served them to me, I tried them, and I loved them!

Would you like the opportunity to introduce your children to this strange vegetable, too? Then bring them to our next Family Dinner with Mario Batali’s Chefs with Chef Alex Pilas of Eataly and Chef Dan Drohan of Otto Enoteca Pizzeria on Thursday, August 2 in the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden. Artichokes are growing beautifully alongside a massive collection of herbs in the Eataly beds of ‘Mario Batali’s Kitchen Gardens,’ and will be served as a main course alongside leg of lamb and dandelion greens by chefs Pilas and Drohan.

Part of The Edible Garden, ‘Mario Batali’s Kitchen Gardens‘ in the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden is an interactive space filled with beds of vegetables and herbs used in the restaurants of chef Mario Batali. The whole family will love exploring these beautiful gardens using an audio tour and Mario’s Menu Mystery game (you can pick it up in the Family Garden).

Artichokes

If you would like to try cooking artichokes at home, you can eat them steamed or boiled, dipping each leaf in melted butter made aromatic with garlic and herbs, delicately removing the tender flesh at the bottom of each leaf with your teeth until you get to the base, where some quick spoon work removes the dangerous choke revealing the grassy green, delicately delicious heart. Or, you can stand over the sink with a sharp knife and with a few deft turns whittle off the leaves to reveal just the heart. Done over and over, you can quickly have a pile of perfect, vaguely UFO-esque domes for pasta or a braise, or to serve in an intoxicating barigoule. Or, if they are very young, you can remove just the outer leaves, then flatten them and fry them in oil alla giudia as the Romans do. Or, if they are very, very fresh, you can slice them thinly and serve them raw in a dressing of very fine olive oil and lemon juice with slivers of Parmigiano-Reggiano like I once had in Florence. Mangia!

Enter to Win Great Prizes from NYBG!

To celebrate the ‘Family Dinners with Mario Batali’s Chefs’ and all the Edible Garden fun going on in the Family Garden, The New York Botanical Garden is giving away eight prize packages featuring a combination of Mario Batali Series Vic Firth Peppermills, pairs of Mario’s beloved Crocs, tickets to the Garden’s Edible Garden festival on September 23, and high quality cookware from the “Mario Batali by Dansk™ Light Cookware” line. These prize packages will vary and are valued at up to $310!

This week we’re giving away four tickets to the Edible Garden festival on Septmber 23 ($100 value) and a Mario Batali Series Vic Firth Peppermill ($45.95 value)! View the full sweepstakes rules, and click here to enter. Each weekly contest will begin at 12:00 p.m. EDT on Monday and run through 11:59 p.m. EDT that Sunday. This week, entries will be accepted beginning at 12:00 p.m. EDT, Monday, July 30, 2012 through 11:59 p.m. Sunday, August 5, 2012.