Artichokes Stuffed with Sausage and Smoked Mozzarella

Artichokes Stuffed with Sausage and Smoked Mozzarella

Carnival of the Recipes: Holiday Appetizers

This recipe I just love. It serves 8 and is from one of my favorite cookbooks, The Frog Commissary Cookbook. I bought this book about 15 years ago and I just love it. The recipes are a little more involved, but they make up for that in taste and appeal.

Ingredients:

• 8 artichokes, 4-4.5 ounces each
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 pound Italian sausage

• 1/2 pound smoked mozzarella, grated
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 cup sliced scallions
• 1/4 cup finley chopped red pepper
• 1 tablespoon minced shallots
• 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon allspice
• 1/4 cup dry bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
  

Trim the atichokes (see below)and set them in 1 inch of boiling water in a large pot. Cover the pot and steam the artichokes in simmering water for 25-30 minutes or until tender--leaves should pull off easily. Refresh the artichokes under cold running water. Remove the center leaves and scrape out the chokes. So that they do not discolor, drop the artichokes into a large bowl of cold water with the lemon juice and leave them until ready to stuff.

Remove the skin from the sausage and saute until cooked through. Drain well, crumble until very fine, and set aside. Pour off the fat from the pan. Add the olive oil to the pan. Add scallions, red pepper, shallots, adn garlic. Saute briefly to soften. Add the herbs, seasonings, and the sausage and cook 2 more minutes. Turn into a bowl and combine with the bread crumbs and mozzarella.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Drain the artichokes upside down. Loosely stuff the centers with the filling. Pack the remaining filling inside each of the outer leaves. Set in a baking pan just large enough to hold them all, or tie each one with a string so it holds its shape while baking. Bake 15 minutes or until hot in center. Sprinkle each with 1 tablepsoon of parmesan cheese and run unber the briler until lightly browned. Serve hot!

Artichoke trimming for stuffing purposes

• Cut off the stem so that the artichoke will sit solidly on a plate.

• Slice off the top 1/4 of the way down

• Rub the cut surfaces with lemon juice.

• Use scissors to cut off the tips of the leaves, giving then a squared off look.

Here is my favorite cookbook!

What I do is kick them in the pants with a diamond buckled shoe!
~~Aileen Mehle~~