Stuffed Artichokes

 1.) Roy Chiulli -

 Mom (Mary Chiulli) came from an Italian family originally from Teramo.  The way she best communicated her love for her family was cooking wonderful meals.  Mom passed away 30 years ago but I still make her stuffed artichokes, and they still come out golden brown, crispy, and pretty as a picture. 

 Mom’s Stuffed Artichokes

Ingredients:

 6 tender artichokes (usually not tender if the leaves are spreading or discolored)

 Stuffing:

  • The insides of 2-3 loaves of Italian bread (day old)

  • Small can of sliced black olives

  • 1-2 chopped tomatoes

  • Handful of chopped parsley

  • Handful of chopped pepperoni

  • Parmesan cheese

  • 2-3 eggs

  • Start with 1/3 cup of olive oil

  • Salt

  • Pepper

  • Garlic powder

  • Can of chicken soup

Preparing the artichokes: 

  1. 1. Wash.  Trim the top of each leaf of the artichoke with a scissor.  Snap off the scraggly bottom row of small leaves. 

  2.  2. Cut the top of artichoke with a knife to flatten the top. Cut the stem with a knife to flatten the bottom of the artichoke. 

Preparing the stuffing:

  1. 1. Prepare breadcrumbs by pulling out the insides of the bread.  Crumble into small pieces.  Add tomatoes, olives, pepperoni and parsley.  Mix with hands.  Add tomatoes, olives, pepperoni, parsley, and Parmesan so that they are well represented in the stuffing. 

  2.  2. Add 2 of the 3 eggs.  Eggs should moisten the bread and turn it yellowish.  Add third egg if stuffing is dry.  Add olive oil until stuffing is moist (not dry, not wet - everything should stick together).  Then add salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste.

Chiulli Family - Mom in red dress, center-left.

Stuffing the artichokes:

Now the part that takes the time.  With each artichoke, push the stuffing into each leaf.  Up to you how much you put in for each leaf.  I like to put in as much as I can.

Baking:

  1. 1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Put stuffed artichokes in oven bag (the kind that you use for roasting turkeys) and place bottoms down in a roasting pan.  Before closing the bag, add a can of chicken soup to the bottom of the bag.  This will steam the artichokes.  Close the bag and punch a few holes in the top. 

  2. 2. Bake until stuffing is brown and leaves pull easily from the artichoke center.  Let sit 15 minutes before serving. 

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