Butter Beans, Tangy Mushrooms, Baked Pasta with Artichokes and Cheese, and Margaret

This is a Margaret Winchell Appreciation Post. 

Margaret is one of the dearest friends I have ever known. She’s one of the few people I can talk on the phone with for hours and forget how long it’s been. Her phone calls are like menthol when you have a bad cold. They clear your head, open up your chest, and lead you to hope that you’ll feel better very soon. 

Margaret is brilliant. Not in a tongue and cheek way. She’s actually brilliant, especially when it comes to music, teaching, cooking, baking, musical theater, leadership, and multi-tasking. Her brilliance can sometimes intimidate others when they first meet her. But after spending time with Margaret, you realize she uses her brilliance to draw others in. 

Margaret, as I just mentioned, is a phenomenal, intuition-driven cook, with instincts so sharp, they could pierce a stale loaf of bread like a tip of a Global knife. It’s her passion for food and hospitality that turned me on to cooking as well. We became real friends after college, right at the time that I was learning to cook myself. She showed me the way. She took me under her wing and had me cook alongside her in preparation for our weekly dinners with Amy, and then usually at some point over the weekends, too. We did a lot of cooking together those days. Margaret also introduced me to New York Times Cooking, which revolutionized what I cook. 

Margaret visited me last weekend, along with her grad school pal, Evan. A most delightful duo. I went into my suburban office on Friday for work, and took the 4:57pm train home. I walked through the door to find my dearest friend Margaret already through two of Alison’s recipes, and half way through a third. This spoke volumes to me. I could almost cry. When this project felt close to impossible, far out of reach from my energy coffers, Margaret stood in the gap, and darn well filled it. 

I can claim essentially no credit for cooking these three recipes, and that’s okay. I’ll let my friend serve me in this way. I did, however, eat all three dishes, and talked to Margaret at length about their preparation. So in lieu of describing a cooking process, I’ll offer here just a few thoughts and takeaways about each one: 

Vinegar-Marinated Butter Beans: 

• Something was UP with these beans. I had on hand a can of Eden Organic Butter Beans that had not expired, and were, you know, supposedly organic. But the best word to describe the final dish is “bitter.” We mused over this conundrum. Vinegar is acidic, but it shouldn’t taste bitter. Garlic can be bitter if you leave the green tips that sometimes sprout out the tops, but Margaret didn’t do this. What we’re left with are the beans. Something must be wrong with the beans. This dish has potential if you don’t have weird beans. It even keeps leftovers for up to two weeks, which I would normally do. But alas, we tossed our bitter beans. 

Tangy-Roasted Mushrooms: 

• Mushrooms, a good variety of them, are expensive, but worth it, IMO. 

• Mushrooms don’t shrink much when you roast them. They just get silkier in texture. 

• Thinly sliced onions add some fun bits of crunch here. 

• I would serve this at many a gathering. 

Baked Pasta with Artichokes and Too Much Cheese:

• Alison absolutely nails the flavor here. Perfect balance of salty, sour (from the artichokes) and creamy (from all that cheese). Pro tip: the flavor gets a glow-up when you add a few tangy-roasted mushrooms on the side. 

• We are floored that Alison doesn’t mention any options for ready-to-bake noodles. This feels like an obvious miss for the many people who don’t want to deal with the labor of parboiling noodles before assembling the dish. We simply refused to parboil, and so put our ready-to-bake noodles straight into the casserole. The top layer of noodles sure stayed tough and became like noodle chips. Not the worst outcome, but certainly not the most optimal. 

• In our humble, yet knowledgeable opinions, we don’t love the lasagna noodle choice. We believe in using a penne or rigatoni. We want to avoid the noodle chip effect.

171, 172, 173 recipes cooked, 52 to go.

Steamed Artichokes with Salted Garlic Butter

It was a blissful August afternoon, and I was full of joyous anticipation. It was my husband’s last day at his job before we would go on a two week vacation and then move to Chicago. It felt like the last day of the school year, but ten times better. I knew Jordan would want to go out to dinner to celebrate, but I had a dream of first preparing an Alison appetizer recipe for us to share on our balcony overlooking the city of Minneapolis. Alison’s recipes have marked special occasions for us all year long. 

I chose to prepare these steamed artichokes with salted garlic butter. Artichokes were on sale, and I had lots of butter in the fridge. Plus, I thought they’d go really well with some cans of sparkling rose (the true hero). 

I knew my way around the artichoke this time, since I’d technically already made this recipe before. Alison’s Grilled Artichoke recipe requires you to steam the artichokes first, using this recipe’s method. You can read more about that process and lessons I learned in the link. It was a bit of trial-and-error. 

The garlic butter was nice and simple. I wanted it to have more acid, so I added some lemon juice to it, which did the trick. I’ve decided I prefer lemon aioli to garlic butter when it comes to artichokes, but that’s purely a personal opinion. Reasonable minds can differ. 

I realized last week that I’d forgotten to write about this recipe after I made it. Which tells me just how much I was occupied by both joy for the end of that season of Jordan’s life and grief over all of the change that was about to come. Even writing about food, which is generally therapeutic for me, seemed too big of an ask as I became preoccupied by the transition. 

Our lives have been constantly changing in big ways over the last four years. Changes that felt exciting, terrifying, unsettling, adventurous, and downright tiring, all at the same time. This move and the new jobs we’d take as a result, was the last set of major changes on our foreseeable horizon. And I am thankful for that. I’m thankful for steamed artichokes as a marker of celebration on that long path of transition. I’m thankful I forgot to write about them so I could look back on that joy-filled day and feel gratitude now. I marvel at what has happened. I marvel at what’s to come. 

156 recipes cooked, 69 to go.

Your Very Own Marinated Artichoke Hearts by Alison Roman

With this recipe, I believe Alison achieved her goal of making artichoke hearts that are easily eaten in one sitting. Her main gripe with store bought ones is that they’re too tangy to eat in quick succession. I’ll add that I think they’re too oily, also. For these reasons, I will start to opt for making my very own marinated artichoke hearts, a la Alison Roman. 

The process is quite simple. I started by draining and quartering two cans of artichoke hearts. I like my artichokes in small bites, which is why I opted for quartering as opposed to halving. I placed the hearts in a serving bowl and turned to the oil. I brought a half cup of oil to a very low sizzle over medium heat, along with fresh thyme (Alison calls for oregano), thin lemon slices, and very thin shallot rings. Once the shallot and lemon began to sizzle, I removed the pot from the heat and seasoned everything with salt and pepper. 

I poured everything from the pot over the artichoke hearts, and added a splash of white wine vinegar. The hearts marinated on the counter for an hour before I stuck them in the fridge. We left for dinner at Sam and Madeline’s about 2 hours later. Just before leaving our apartment, I sprinkled the bowl with fresh parsley.

I served this appetizer alongside Alison’s Lemon Goat Cheese, which was clearly the winner between the two. Everyone seemed to eat one or two artichoke quarters, but they completely finished the goat cheese. Over the next few days, I ate the remaining leftovers for lunch with handfuls of kale and almond crackers. Artichokes are an acquired taste. If you really enjoy artichokes, then I think you’ll enjoy this recipe. If artichokes aren’t your favorite, then go ahead and skip it. 

114 recipes cooked, 111 to go.

Grilled Artichokes with Preserved Lemon Yogurt by Alison Roman

I love a good artichoke. I love the activity of eating one almost as much as the taste of it, too. I first made artichokes with Alison’s Wine-Roasted Artichokes recipe, which taught me all about how to cut and prep them – it’s sort of an art form. These grilled artichokes required slightly less preparation (no stripping the outer layer of leaves), but they did require more time by way of steaming. For more tender artichokes, Alison asks you to steam them before grilling, which adds about an hour to the ordeal. 

To steam the artichokes, first cut the stem to a little less than an inch, and remove the top 1.5-2 inches of the bulb. Fill a medium pot with 2 inches of water, and place the artichokes stem-side down, with the bulbs poking well out of the water, so as not to water-log them. I highly recommend using 4 smaller artichokes as opposed to 2 large ones so that they stand more securely in the pot. Bring the water to a boil and then simmer for 50 to 60 minutes for large artichokes. For smaller artichokes, I found they were ready within 45 minutes, which you can test by seeing how easily an outer leaf comes off when tugging. 

The book does not specify whether the pot should be covered. However, the only way to create effective steam is to cover a pot to trap the moisture. The picture in her book shows a lid being lifted from the pot, so I took that as my confirmation to utilize a lid. 

While the artichokes steamed, I made the preserved lemon yogurt, which was just a combination of finely chopped preserved lemon, salt, pepper, and goat’s milk yogurt (or greek yogurt, sour cream or labne – you decide your destiny.) The yogurt serves as the artichoke dipping sauce. It also made a delicious sauce for dipping the roasted potatoes we had as an additional side at dinner. 

I steamed the artichokes just before packing up my meal ingredients and heading to my in-law’s home where they own a grill. Prior to grilling, the artichokes should be halved lengthwise and slathered with olive oil, salt, and pepper. They start cut-side down over medium-high heat. After 4 minutes (we waited until 6 minutes), flip them over to get equal charring on the back side for another 4 minutes. Bon appetit, they’re ready to serve! 

I must say, steaming the artichokes first made a giant difference in the tenderness of the leaves. They were easy to pull and eat, but not so soft that they fell limp when holding them. 

I served this dish with Alison’s Grilled Branzino with Lemons All of the Ways – an excellent pairing if you ask me. 

99 recipes cooked, 126 to go.

Wine-Roasted Artichokes by Alison Roman

I wasn’t planning on making this recipe until the summer. Artichokes always struck me as a summer food. I just couldn’t pass up $3.99 for four artichokes. Entirely an impulse buy. 

The artichokes sat in my fridge for a while till I could figure out what to do with them. I knew I couldn’t just fix them up in a flurry. Artichokes are complicated, and they appreciate having some get-to-know-you time first, before getting down to business. I needed to dedicate time and space to build their trust. I finally made time last Saturday to learn how to prepare an artichoke. 

There’s a lot involved: stem trimming, peeling back layers of leaves, chopping off the top of the globe, snipping thorns, and scraping out the fuzzy center just above the heart. I can’t be certain I did it all correctly, but I had a lot of fun trying. 

The artichokes are cut in half lengthwise and placed cut-side down in a deep roasting pan. With them goes 1 cup of water and 1 cup of white wine, olive oil, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, smashed garlic, and butter. Sounds like a winning combination because it is one. 

After some research, I understand that stovetop steaming is the typical way to cook artichokes. Artichokes are tough and do need time to soften, which is why Alison’s oven-roasting method spends the first 40-50 minutes with a tight layer of tin foil on top of the pan. This mimics a good steam, allowing the globes to become properly tender. Then the foil is removed for the last 15-20 minutes to give the outer layers time to get slightly crispy and let the water and wine evaporate. 

The few times I’ve eaten an artichoke at a restaurant, they were always served with a dipping sauce, usually garlic butter. A great route to take here, no doubt, but I was in the mood for something tangier. Alison has a recipe for Lemon Aioli as part of her Shrimp Cocktail section, so I decided to go for two firsts in one day. My first aioli endeavor ensued. I’ll write more about it when I get to shrimp cocktails, but for now, my primary takeaways from the experience are: 1. Be prepared for a very sore forearm, and 2. Without patience, you cannot have aioli. 

Jordan took an hour break from work (it was a Saturday) so we could have a Wine & Artichoke Hour. We sat in our living room and sipped Cabernet while dipping the buttery leaves in aioli. It was so delightful that we talked about making it a more regular weekend activity. Sometimes it’s nice to eat something decadent in the middle of the afternoon instead of waiting until meal time. It can make 3:00pm feel less pedestrian, more special. Not all days can have special 3:00pm’s, but more of them should. 

27 recipes cooked, 198 to go.