TASTEscape: Rome

Great British Chefs - Celebrity Cruises partner

31 March 2016

Rome, Italy

Rome wasn't built in a day, and it shows. This month's TASTEscape destination guide produced in partership with Great British Chefs explores this astonishing city and the variety of food it has to offer - ranging from freshly baked pizza to the delicious, natural ice cream. And perhaps it will inspire you try our recipe.

Recipe: Carciofi alla Giudea

Great British Chef Rosana McPhee serves up this classic Roman-Jewish recipe of crispy deep-fried artichokes, simply flavoured with a splash of white wine and a sprinkling of lemon juice to serve.

Information

Course: Starter
Difficulty: Easy
Serves: 4
Time: 1hr 30mins

Ingredients

4 Romanesco artichokes
1 lemon, juiced, and another to serve
50ml of white wine, to sprinkle
1.5l oil, flavourless
salt
pepper

Recipe

Clean the artichokes by cutting away the tough outer leaves until you get to softer internal ones. With a curved paring knife, carefully cut off the purple part of each leaf
The artichoke will have a round shape, like a rose. Peel off the outer skin of the artichoke stems and carefully tidy up the bases
Immerse the artichokes in a clean acidulated water, made of 1l of water and the juice of 1 lemon, for at least 10 minutes
Remove the artichokes from the water, drain and dry thoroughly. Beat them against one another so that the leaves start to open
In a deep pan, heat the oil to 140–150°C
Immerse the artichokes in the hot oil and allow to fry for 10 minutes. To check if they are cooked, just pierce the base of the artichokes with a fork – if the fork penetrates the artichoke, it is done
Remove the artichokes from the oil and leave them to cool upside down on a tray for 15 minutes to drain the excess oil. With a fork, open the leaves from the inside to get the shape of a fully bloomed rose
Season with salt and plenty of freshly ground pepper and allow the artichokes to rest for a few minutes
Sprinkle the artichokes with white wine. Reheat the oil, raising the temperature slightly this time to 180°C, and dip the artichokes back into the hot oil for 1–2 minutes only. Remove artichokes and drain cut-side down on kitchen paper
Serve the artichokes piping hot with lemon wedges on the side