Cream of artichoke soup

 
                          Cream of Artichoke Soup
 
 Recipe By     : Duarte's restaurant in Pescadero, CA
 Serving Size  : 1    Preparation Time :0:00
 Categories    : Soups & Stews
 
   Amount  Measure       Ingredient -- Preparation Method
 --------  ------------  --------------------------------
    6      large         artichokes  -- up to 8
    1                    onion  -- diced
      1/2  teaspoon      salt
      1/4  teaspoon      pepper
    1                    bay leaf
    2      tablespoons   vegetable oil
    3      tablespoons   lemon juice
    2      cloves        garlic
    2      cups          chicken stock
    1      cups          heavy cream
 
 From: rshoup@oracle.com (Randy Shoup) 
 You are probably referring to Duarte's restaurant in Pescadero, CA, which 
 is justifiably famous both for its artichoke soup and for its olallieberry 
 pie.  (Apparently locals pronounce the name "DU-art's", as opposed to 
 "duARte's" -- very odd) My SO and I have been to Duarte's many times, and 
 on more than one occasion have planned trips around being there at 
 mealtimes (one time twice in a day).  The most recent time, we noticed up 
 on the wall an old yellowing newspaper article about the place which 
 contained the recipe for their artichoke soup.  We each memorized half, 
 and wrote it down immediately once we got back to the car.  The following 
 is an adaptation: Prepare the artichokes for steaming: Remove and discard 
 tough outer leaves of the artichokes.  From the top, scoop out and discard 
 the innermost section, along with the stringy thistle part above the 
 heart.  You should be left with most of the leaves together with the 
 heart. (Sorry about the lack of clarity here.  This is the standard 
 Italian way to prepare artichokes for steaming, though, and many cookbooks 
 -- including _The_Joy_of_Cooking_ and Marcella Hazan's 
 _Classical_Italian_Cooking_ -- have clearer explanations and pictorial 
 diagrams describing this process.) Bring 1-2" of water to boil in a pot 
 large enough for all the artichokes. Add garlic, salt, pepper, bay leaf, 2 
 tbl of the lemon juice, and oil. Place artichokes on steaming apparatus in 
 pot, cover tightly, and steam 30-40 minutes. Remove artichokes and allow 
 them to cool sufficiently to be handled. Scrape the tender artichoke 
 "meat" from the inside of each leaf (I use a heavy knife for this).  If 
 the steamed artichokes are particularly tender, you may be able to 
 dispense with the scraping and just cut off the top portions of the 
 leaves. Puree the artichoke "meat" and artichoke hearts with the onion and 
 chicken stock.  Add final tbl of lemon juice. Simmer over low heat for ~1 
 hour. Add cream, adjust salt and pepper, and serve.
 
 
                    
 
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