Artichoke Gratinita

While looking through our big binder of recipes yesterday I found a great recipe that we first made in 2008.  It is a simple side dish from Giada De Lauerntiis that went really well with our Shrimp with Linguinie and Lemon Oil and our Cannellini Beans with Arugula that we have posted about earlier.  These three recipes would be a great flavor mix to finish off our Lenten dinners.

Yesterday was also a day to start making desserts and sweets for Easter Sunday.  I had spent the afternoon making cookies and lemon bars, recipes to be posted later, and doing a little spring cleaning of our coat closets.  (This means washing winter coats I really don't want to see again until November or December.)  With our daughter home for the holidays from school I asked her to put this recipe together for me.  This was a great help with all the other dinner preparations going on. She is also reminding us on how to handle food safely after just finishing a class on food safety that will have her certified in this area.  Wait until she starts analyzing our diet.  We might be in trouble then. 

Artichoke Gratinita 

INGREDIENTS

3 tablespoons olive oil

1   minced garlic clove

1 pound frozen artichoke hearts, thawed

2 tablespoons chopped fresh  parsley

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/8 teaspoon  red  pepper flakes

1/2 cup chicken broth

1/4 cup   Marsala wine wine

2 tablespoons butter

1/3 cup plain bread crumbs

1/3 cup grated Parmesan

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Warm the olive oil in a heavy bottom skillet over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the artichoke hearts, parsley, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes and cook until the artichoke hearts are starting to brown at the edges, about 3 minutes. Add the chicken broth and wine and simmer for 3 minutes. Transfer the artichoke mixture to a 2-quart baking dish.

Melt the butter in the same skillet used to cook the artichokes. In a small bowl mix the melted butter with the bread crumbs. Stir in the Parmesan  and top the artichokes with the bread crumbs. Bake until the top is golden, about 10 minutes.