Vive las verduras

Features of the Navarra artichoke and an unusual way of cooking

Ricardo Gil / Treintaitres

Ricardo Gil and Enrique Castelruiz granted the artichoke the place it deserves at a vegetable congress being held in Navarra. Castelruiz claimed that the artichoke is believed to have been brought to the peninsula by the Arabs, who called the plants “alcaucides”, a name still used in Spain’s Levante region and Andalusia. The white artichoke of Tudela, more specifically, has not changed in terms of variety with the passing of the years and maintains the properties sought when it was first introduced to this area, with its special microclimate and the properties afforded by the Valley of the Ebro. This artichoke spends more time in the ground and produces less fruit than other plants do (around 15, as opposed to the 23 of other varieties). It has also been demonstrated that it is different in nutritional terms.

Given its heat recovery properties, Ricardo Gil suggested that it should be cooked by induction; well, but not over-cooked because “my customers don’t like vegetables al dente”. He also said that flour should be avoided in the preparation of the dish.

« Programme day 22