Do I smell garlic sizzling? Oh, boy, mama’s making artichokes because around here the season is beginning and there are lovely little greeny-purple ones, tender as cooked carrots and sooo good dipped in lemon butter. Actually she’s cutting them up to sauté them in olive oil to eat tonight with turkey breasts alla Milanese (sautéed in flour, salt and pepper until brown, then sprinkled with lemon and a bit of parmesan before serving) and whatever is left over will be whizzed up into a pasta sauce with olive oil, lemon juice, chicken broth, a bit of parmesan and black pepper.
Oh, and a sprig of mentuccia, the Italian mint we grow in a little pot. Well, we attempt to grow. Sometimes it appears to not be there but bammo, there it comes again in spring. Also called nepitella and extremely flavorful when cooked with artichokes.
Mama has this passion for artichokes (I have mentioned this before but it seems to be getting worse…or better, whichever way you see it) so we will be seeing a lot of them over the next few months.
As for me, the lemon butter is just fine alone.
Oh, mama, just a little tiny drop, okay? Hold the lemon…
We’ll take some o’ dat butter too LouLou. And yep, hold da lemon. Uh we wouldn’t say no to a bit of turkey either. MOL Enjoy your meal. Big hugs
Luv ya’
Dezi and Raena
Oh goodness – we’re all choking up over here TOO!!!! Maman says she has never cooked an artichoke – and has only eaten them “stuffed” – ? She is going to check out the recipe in Rome at Home and give it a try. Those turkey breasts sound delicious – THAT she can handle!!! And Papà will sneak me a tidbit now and then………You lucky kitty………………..
Yes, I did get a bit of the gobbler…but only a bit, darn it. Mama adores artichokes, fried, stuffed, sautéed, boiled, you name it. And when very young, sliced very thin raw and marinated in lemon dressing and then shaved parmesan over the top of the salad. Num num.
That sounds like a tasty meal.
We all drooled on each other, hahah.
Smart girl. We’d skip the lemon too. It must be a human thing since Jan says your mom must be a terrific cook and has such interesting recipes.
Yes, lemon for kitties probably isn’t tasty. But lemon on artichokes…good, good.
“Nepitella” sounds a bit like it may be related to CATNIP ! “Nepetalactone” is the part of catnip that makes you kitties go crazy.
Mary, you are absolutely right and when I search for catnip here in France, I have to give them the Latin name, which is Nepeta. Hard to find. I grew it from seed so that mama could make me some toys stuffed with it. And it GREW!!!