Oven-braised artichokes with potatoes and onions

A recipe by Nancy Harmon Jenkins, author of books on Mediterranean cooking, written for Biolea.

This is a ladera – a dish of vegetables braised in olive oil, eaten in Crete as a full meal. The artichokes and potatoes roast first under foil in their own juices with lemon, then uncovered, until the liquid evaporates and the vegetables start to fry in the oil alone. Olive oil is an ingredient here, not a cooking fat – you'll use almost 100 ml of it.

Ingredients

• 8 small yellow-fleshed potatoes
• 8 small, firm artichokes (in winter: 2 jars of artichoke hearts in oil, drained – skip step 2)
• 1 lemon for preparing the artichokes + 80 ml (⅓ cup) lemon juice + wedges to serve
• 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, sliced
• 2 tablespoons chopped herbs (chives, thyme, flat-leaf parsley)
• 2 bay leaves
• 80 ml (⅓ cup) + 2 tablespoons Biolea extra virgin olive oil
• sea salt, freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Peel the potatoes, cut them into slices about 0.5 cm (¼ in) thick and drop them into a bowl of water.
2. Squeeze half a lemon into a second bowl of water. Strip the artichokes of their tough outer leaves, quarter them and remove the fibrous chokes. Rub the cut surfaces with the other lemon half and drop them into the water.
3. Preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F).
4. Drain the vegetables and toss with the onion, garlic, salt, pepper, herbs, the bay leaves (snapped in half) and 80 ml of olive oil.
5. Transfer to an ovenproof dish, pour over the lemon juice and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Cover tightly with foil.
6. Roast for 30 minutes. Remove the foil, baste the vegetables with the juices from the bottom, raise the temperature to 200°C (400°F) and roast uncovered for about 15 minutes, until the liquid has evaporated and the vegetables are sizzling in the oil.

Serve warm or at room temperature, with lemon wedges and bread.

Recipe: Nancy Harmon Jenkins for Biolea Astrikas Estate. Photos: Biolea. Published with the producer's permission.