Now that it’s officially fall let the warm comforting dishes begin! We’re eating a meal of fresh artichoke hearts, herbed turkey meatballs, shitake mushrooms and okra braised with stewed tomatoes and rich beef stock. The dish was served with thick slices of fresh fig-anise bread from Bread & Cie for sopping up all the juices.

A: okay, so i really didn’t mean for this to be a “soup”. it was started as an alternate way to use up the mounds of artichokes in the fridge. (it’s artichoke season here and they are 3 for a dollar at the produce market). In my mind it was going to be braised artichokes and turkey meatballs… which is still pretty much what it was, just kind of like artichoke and meatball soup.
T: I’m glad it was soup… more juice that way! The juice/broth was really tasty too. As were the meatballs and everything else in the… soup. The meatballs were particularly delish. I’m hungry.
A: me too. we should really start having these convo’s right after we eat rather than the next day! i’m starving too! mmm meatball-y, artichoke-y beef and tomato broth-y goodness….
T: yeah. mmm… hunger… must eat. Must eat meatballs. Ok. Focus. I give this meal a rating of 4.59/5. The meatballs were amazing, and what was really amazing is that they were turkey meatballs. Yet they were still moist moist moist.
A: they were braised braised braised in stock stock stock…
T: the artichokes were great too in the soup, although I wonder if it was worth the effort to trim them considering how good artichokes are when they’re eaten leaf-by-leaf. What’s your verdict… was it worth the effort? or, better question, would you do it again?
A: i would definitely do it again. while i really like eating braised whole artichokes leaf-by-leaf, i was ready for a change. we do that so frequently when i get artichokes. it would have been a significantly easier task if i had sharper knives. my knives are dull dull dull and all i can do is hone them. i don’t want to ruin them attempting to sharpen them with no skeeells.
T: awe come on. you have skills. Nun chuck skills, for instance.
A: heheheh but my nun chuck skills can’t help me sharpen my knives! okay, so i’m gonna rate this little ditty a 4.44/5. i really enjoyed it. it was worth the time and effort, even with dull knives. i will definitely be playing around with artichokes more during artichoke season!
T: I’m glad to hear that, especially if we get to eat plenty of artichokes leaf-by-leaf, like God meant for them to be eaten.
A: i’ve got two in the fridge waiting for just that preparation!
T: sweeet. now let’s go eat something.

Recipes in this post:

• Artichoke and Meatball Soup

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