To dress Artichoke Suckers is a traditional Stuart recipe for a classic dish of artichoke pices that are boiled and served in a butter and vinegar sauce. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Stuart version of: To dress Artichoke Suckers.
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Original Recipe
To dress Artichoke Suckers (from Hannah Woolley's Queen-like Closet 1670)
43. To dreſs Artichoke Suckers.
Take your Suckers of Artichokes, and pare them as you would an Apple, and caſt them into water to keep their Colour; and to take away the bitterneſs of them, put alſo to them the meat which is in the ſtalks of great Artichokes, then boil Water and Salt together, and when it is boiling apace, put in your Suckers and Stalks tied up in a thin Cloth with a blade or two of Mace, and when they are enough, melt ſome Butter and Vinegar together very thick and hot, and a little Pepper with it, then lay them in a Diſh, and pour the Sauce over them, ſtrew on a little Salt, and about the Diſhes, and so ſerve it in.
Modern Redaction
This recipe is for cooking the young side-shoots that develop from artichokes each year (the parts that you would normally transplant to form new plants). You can also use the bases (top of stems and bottom of the head for this recipe, as well as the bases of the leaves, which are also edible.
The Stuarts were notorious for the lack of vegetables in their diet. Mostly because they distrusted anything that grew in the ground, believing that it might transmit pestilence. PArsnips were a rare exception to this, valued because of their sweetness. However, they shared the Elizabethans' taste for 'sllets' (salads). The term wa broad and could mean a mix of leafy grens nad meats or could be boiled greens dressed in sauce (as here).
Ingredients:
500g artichoke side-shoots (suckers), leaf bases or bases of the heats, peeled and trimmed
100g artichoke hearts
2blades of mace
100g butter
4 tbsp vinegar
freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
Method:
Add the artichoke hearts and peeled stems to a pan of boiling salted water along with the mace. Bring back to a boil and cook for about 20 minutes, or until tender.
Just before the artichokes are ready, melt the butter in a pan and whisk in the vinegar. Season to taste with black pepper and cook gently until thickened. Drain the artichoke pieces in a colander.
Arrange in a warmed serving dish, pour over the butter sauce and bring to the table.
