Italian Roasted Artichoke Stuffed with Spelt, Castelmagno and Hazelnuts | Carciofo Arrosto Ripieno di Farro, Castelmagno e Nocciole
A whole artichoke roasted with a grain inside it is a different proposition from the stuffed artichokes most people know. There is no breadcrumb and no soft filling that melts into the leaves. The cavity carries pearled spelt cooked like a risotto, folded with crumbled Castelmagno and toasted Piedmont hazelnuts, and roasted until the leaf tips char and the heart turns tender.
The three filling ingredients are the point. Pearled spelt keeps its grain under heat and absorbs the artichoke juices without turning to paste. Castelmagno, the crumbly blue veined cheese of the Valle Grana, is sharp and lactic rather than stringy, so it seasons the grain instead of gluing it. The hazelnuts of the Alta Langa add the fat and roasted sweetness the artichoke cannot supply.
Yield: 4 servings, one stuffed artichoke each. Prep: 45 minutes. Cook: 1 hour. Rest: 10 minutes. Total: about 2 hours. Difficulty: intermediate. Course: contorno. Region: Piedmont, the Turin plain and the Cuneo valleys.
The Story
This is a Piedmontese dish by its filling rather than by its vegetable, and that filling draws a line between three products grown within about sixty miles of each other. Castelmagno comes from the Valle Grana above Cuneo, from the communes of Castelmagno, Pradleves and Monterosso Grana. A legal arbitration of 1277 settled a dispute over mountain pasture rights between the marquis of Saluzzo and the commune, and the rent was paid in wheels of the cheese. That is the earliest firm date any Piedmontese cheese can claim.
The hazelnut is the second thread. The Tonda Gentile Trilobata of the Alta Langa was planted in quantity only after phylloxera and the wine crises of the early twentieth century wiped out vineyards on the poorer slopes. Farmers who could no longer live from grapes turned those hillsides over to nut trees, and within two generations the Langhe hazelnut was the reference nut of the Italian confectionery trade.
The artichoke belongs to the flat land north of the hills. Chieri, southeast of Turin, has grown artichokes since at least the sixteenth century, and the local variety was historically blanched under earth in the same way the region blanches its cardoons. Spelt is the outsider, an ancient wheat that survived in mountain farming when softer wheats replaced it elsewhere. Putting the four together is recent cooking, but every element is local and old.
Ingredients
For the artichokes
Large globe artichokes with stems, 4, about 2 1/2 lb (1.15 kg)
Lemons, 2
Extra virgin olive oil, 1/4 cup (60 ml)
Dry white wine, 1/2 cup (120 ml)
Vegetable stock or water, 1 cup (240 ml)
Garlic cloves, lightly crushed, 3
Thyme sprigs, 4
Fine sea salt, 1 tsp (6 g)
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
For the spelt filling
Pearled spelt, farro perlato, 3/4 cup (140 g)
Vegetable stock, hot, 2 1/4 cups (540 ml)
Shallot, finely diced, 1 small
Extra virgin olive oil, 2 tbsp (30 ml)
Dry white wine, 1/4 cup (60 ml)
Bay leaf, 1
Fine sea salt, 1/2 tsp (3 g)
For the Castelmagno and hazelnuts
Castelmagno DOP, crumbled, 3 1/2 oz (100 g)
Piedmont hazelnuts, Tonda Gentile, raw, 2 1/2 oz (70 g)
Unsalted butter, cold, 1 tbsp (14 g)
Finely grated lemon zest, from 1/2 lemon
Flat leaf parsley, chopped, 2 tbsp (6 g)
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
For finishing
Castelmagno DOP, shaved, 1/2 oz (15 g)
Hazelnut oil, 2 tsp (10 ml)
Thyme leaves, picked, 1 tsp
Flaky sea salt, a pinch per artichoke
Preparation
Trimming the artichokes into acidulated water
Fill a bowl with cold water and squeeze in the juice of one and a half lemons, dropping the spent halves in too. Work on one artichoke at a time, because cut surfaces brown within a minute. Snap off the tough outer leaves by bending them back until they break at the base, until what remains is pale green and stiff only at the tips. Cut across the top with a serrated knife, taking off a third.
Peeling the stem and hollowing out the choke
Leave about 2 inches (5 cm) of stem and pare its outside until the pale core shows. The stem is the same tissue as the heart and is the best eating on the vegetable, so do not cut it off. Spread the leaves open and dig out the hairy choke with a teaspoon, scraping until the base of the cavity is smooth. Rub the cut surfaces with the half lemon and drop the artichoke into the water.
Toasting and skinning the hazelnuts
Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and roast the hazelnuts on a small tray for 10 to 12 minutes, shaking once, until the skins crack and they smell sweet right through. Tip them hot into a clean towel, fold it over and rub firmly for half a minute. Do not chase the last fragments of skin, since a nut sent back to the oven turns bitter. Chop coarsely.
Cooking the pearled spelt like a risotto
Warm the olive oil in a heavy saucepan and sweat the shallot with a pinch of salt for 4 minutes, without colour. Add the drained spelt and stir for 2 minutes until the grains are coated and hot. Pour in the wine and let it evaporate. Add the bay leaf, then the hot stock in two additions, stirring often, and cook for 18 to 22 minutes. Pearled spelt has no bran and needs no soaking. Stop while the grains keep a firm centre.
Folding in the cheese, the nuts and the aromatics
Pull the pan off the heat, remove the bay leaf and wait 2 minutes so the spelt drops below boiling. Beat in the cold butter, then add the crumbled Castelmagno in three additions, folding rather than stirring, since cheese added to a bubbling pan will break and leak fat. Fold in the hazelnuts, lemon zest, parsley and pepper. Spread the filling on a tray to cool, about 10 minutes.
Filling the artichokes
Drain the artichokes upside down and pat the cavities dry. Season inside each one. Pack the warm spelt into the cavity with a teaspoon, then push small amounts down between the outer rows of leaves so the filling runs through the artichoke rather than sitting on top. Mound the rest over the opening. They should feel heavy and solid in the hand.
Roasting covered so the hearts steam through
Choose a roasting dish that holds the four artichokes snugly upright, stems up, so they support each other. Pour the wine and stock around them, never over them, and add the garlic and thyme to the liquid. Drizzle the olive oil over the filled tops. Cover tightly with foil and roast at 400°F (200°C) for 40 minutes. This stage is steam cooking, and it brings the artichoke to tenderness without drying the grain.
Uncovering to roast, then resting before service
Remove the foil and roast for a further 15 to 20 minutes. The filling should take on a golden crust, the leaf tips should darken and curl, and the liquid should reduce to a few spoonfuls of syrupy juices. Test by pushing a thin knife through the base, which should meet no resistance. Rest for 10 minutes, so the grain reabsorbs moisture and the cheese firms.
Plating
Serve these hot but not scalding, about 10 minutes out of the oven, on warm plates rather than hot ones. A plate from the warming drawer keeps cooking the outer leaves and dulls the hazelnut. One artichoke per person is a contorno beside roasted meat, or a light main course with bread.
Stand the artichoke upright in a shallow bowl, stem pointing up, and do not cut it open in the kitchen. Half the pleasure is pulling the leaves off at the table and scraping them, and one sliced in advance loses its shape and the juices trapped in the cavity.
Spoon the reduced roasting juices around the base, a tablespoon per serving, and let them pool rather than coat the vegetable. Add a few drops of hazelnut oil, shave the remaining Castelmagno over the filling so it softens without melting, scatter the thyme and finish with flaky salt. Put a bowl on the table for the spent leaves.
Professional Technique
The controlling technique is the two stage roast, which solves a problem specific to a whole stuffed artichoke. The vegetable is dense at the base and thin at the tips, and a grain filling in its cavity has no access to direct heat. Roast it uncovered from the start and the tips burn while the heart is still raw. The sealed first stage turns the dish into a steam oven, with the wine and stock below generating vapour that travels between the leaves.
The second technique is cooking the spelt to deliberate underdoneness. Pearled spelt absorbs liquid for as long as it is warm and wet, and the filling then spends an hour surrounded by steam. Grain cooked to full tenderness on the stove arrives as a soft mass with no definition left. Stopping while a firm core remains builds in the margin the oven will consume.
The third is the handling of the Castelmagno, a crumbling cheese with a low melting tolerance. Added to a boiling pan it seizes, expels fat and leaves a greasy film on the grain. Folded into spelt that has fallen below boiling, in three additions, it stays in soft pieces that season the grain from within. The shaving added at the end never meets heat, so the raw sharpness of the cheese survives onto the plate.
Texture and Moisture Control
Four textures have to arrive together: leaves tender enough to scrape with the teeth, a heart soft to a spoon, grain with definition left in it, and hazelnuts that are audibly crisp. The leaves fail first if the dish is not sealed during the covered stage, because escaping steam leaves the upper leaves cooking in dry heat.
Moisture inside the artichoke is a closed system once the foil is on. The vegetable is about eighty four percent water and releases a good deal of it into the cavity, which is why the filling can go in looser than it should finish. The roasting liquid goes around the artichokes for the same reason: poured on top it floods the cavity and the grain boils.
The hazelnuts have no moisture defence and are protected by fat and by timing. Toasting them until the skins crack drives off surface moisture and sets the crispness. Folding them into the spelt off the heat coats them in cheese and butter, which slows steam penetration in the oven. Chopping coarsely leaves pieces whose centres stay dry.
Professional Mise en Place
Almost everything here can be done ahead. The only real constraints are that trimmed artichokes discolour and filled raw ones cannot sit for long.
Equipment and tools
Serrated knife, paring knife and scissors
Teaspoon or melon baller for the choke
Bowl of acidulated water and a draining rack
Heavy saucepan for the spelt, small tray for the nuts
Roasting dish holding four artichokes upright, plus heavy foil
Prepared ahead
Hazelnuts toasted and chopped, up to 2 days ahead in a sealed jar
Spelt cooked and cooled without the cheese, 1 day ahead
Castelmagno crumbled on the day, kept cold
Stock, wine and aromatics measured out
Artichokes trimmed up to 4 hours ahead, held in acidulated water
Service setup
Artichokes filled no more than 30 minutes before roasting
Oven fully preheated to 400°F (200°C), foil cut to size
Plates warm rather than hot, bowl on the table for spent leaves
Roasting juices spooned at the moment of plating
Shaving cheese, hazelnut oil, thyme and salt lined up
Chef Tips
Buy artichokes by weight in the hand rather than by size. A good one feels dense and the leaves squeak faintly when squeezed. Splayed leaves dry at the edges mean the choke inside will be woody.
Taste the Castelmagno before committing to the quantity. A young wheel of four months is mild and milky and takes the full 3 1/2 oz (100 g). A mature one of a year is intensely sharp, and at that age 2 1/2 oz (70 g) is plenty.
Keep the trimmings. The outer leaves and stem peelings make an artichoke stock in 30 minutes with an onion and a bay leaf, and that is the best liquid for cooking the spelt.
If your dish is too large and the artichokes fall over, wedge them upright with halved potatoes or thick onion slices rather than reducing the liquid. The wedges then roast in the juices into a second contorno.
Common Mistakes
Leaving the choke in the artichoke. The hairy centre stays inedible however long it roasts and works into the filling. Scrape the cavity until the base is smooth and pale.
Roasting uncovered from the beginning. The leaf tips blacken and the filling crusts over while the heart is still raw at the base. The first 40 minutes must be sealed under foil.
Cooking the spelt fully on the stove. The grain then absorbs steam for another hour and arrives as a soft undifferentiated mass. Stop while a firm centre remains.
Adding the Castelmagno to a boiling pan. The cheese splits, leaks fat and leaves the spelt greasy. Take the pan off the heat, wait two minutes and fold it in gradually.
Pouring the cooking liquid over the artichokes. It washes cheese and nuts out of the filling and floods the cavity, boiling the grain instead of steaming it. Pour around the base only.
Using whole unpearled farro without adjusting. Whole spelt keeps its bran, needs hours of soaking and stays hard through the roast. Buy farro perlato instead.
Cutting the artichokes open before serving. The shape collapses and the juices trapped in the cavity run out. Send them whole and let the table take them apart.
Wine Pairing
Roero Arneis DOCG: The Piedmontese white closest to this plate and the soundest match technically. Artichoke contains cynarin, which makes many wines taste flatly sweet and faintly metallic, and the defence is acidity with a bitter edge rather than fruit. Arneis from the sandy Roero soils gives white peach and chamomile over a bitter almond finish that meets the artichoke on its own terms.
Erbaluce di Caluso DOCG: The sharpest tool available here. Erbaluce from the moraine hills north of Turin has some of the highest natural acidity of any Italian white, with a lean citrus and green apple profile and almost no aromatic decoration. There is no sweet fruit for the cynarin to distort, and the acid slices through the butter and the hazelnut fat.
Alta Langa DOCG: The metodo classico of the same hills the hazelnuts come from. Extended lees ageing gives a bready toasted note that runs alongside the roasted nuts and the browned crust, while the bead scrubs the palate between mouthfuls of cheese. Choose a dry brut, since residual sugar collides badly with the artichoke.
Barbera d'Asti DOCG: The red that solves the artichoke problem, because the problem with red wine here is tannin rather than colour. Barbera is naturally low in tannin and very high in acid, with dark cherry and sour plum fruit, so it brings weight to the roasted leaves without the metallic clash a tannic wine produces. Serve an unoaked bottling at 61°F (16°C).
Dolcetto d'Alba DOC: The everyday red of the Langhe and what is actually poured with this food locally. It is soft and round with low acidity and a bitter almond note on the finish, and that note is what makes it work against the artichoke. Its gentle tannin handles the Castelmagno. Serve it cool, at 59°F (15°C).
Storage & Reheating
Roasted stuffed artichokes keep refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 3 days, and they are good at room temperature on the second day. Store them upright, and keep leftover roasting juices in a separate jar, since they are what makes the reheating work.
To reheat, take them out 30 minutes ahead, stand them in a small dish, spoon the reserved juices over the base and add 2 tablespoons of stock. Cover with foil and warm at 325°F (165°C) for 15 to 18 minutes, then uncover for 4 minutes to bring the crust back. Never use a microwave, which turns the leaves rubbery.
Freezing the assembled dish is not recommended. Artichoke leaves collapse on thawing and release water that ruins the grain, and Castelmagno separates when frozen inside a wet filling. The cooked spelt alone freezes for up to 2 months in a sealed bag. Thaw it overnight and fold in freshly crumbled cheese and freshly toasted nuts.
Nutrition
Per serving, based on 4 servings of one stuffed artichoke each:
Calories: 530 kcal
Total Fat: 32 g
Saturated Fat: 10 g
Trans Fat: 0.3 g
Unsaturated Fat: 21 g
Cholesterol: 35 mg
Sodium: 690 mg
Total Carbohydrates: 42 g
Fiber: 11 g
Total Sugars: 5 g
Added Sugars: 0 g
Protein: 19 g
Lactose: 0.6 g
Principal micronutrients: calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium, folate, vitamin K, vitamin E, copper
These figures are estimates. Castelmagno varies in fat and salt with age, so the sodium depends on how mature the wheel is. The fibre figure is high for a side dish because a whole artichoke is one of the richest vegetable sources.
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