Recipe: Grilled Artichokes with Umami Butter

The enormous globe artichokes at Life’s a Choke Farmstand.

This week on the Market Report Chef Brooke Williamson talks to Laura Avery about the Grilled Artichokes with Umami Butter that she serves at her restaurant The Tripel in Playa del Rey. She first steams the artichokes in acidulated water, then grills them until charred. Before service she sautees a few tablespoons of housemade “umami butter” (recipe follows) with radishes and serves them atop the grilled artichokes.

For a quick tutorial on how to trim an artichokes (often described as “turning” an artichoke after the word tournerin French) check out this video from Gourmet’s archives:

In addition to The Tripel, Williamson and her husband Nick Roberts own Hudson House in Redondo Beach.

Grilled Artichokes with Umami Butter

(From Chef Brooke Williamson of the Tripel in Playa del Rey)

For the Artichokes:

4 whole artichokes (trimmed and topped)

1 lemon

3 tbsp salt

20 small cleaned radishes (cut into halves)

2 tablespoons olive oil

salt and black pepper to taste

In a large pot add cleaned artichokes, juice of one lemon, and 3 tbsp salt. Cover the artichokes with water and simmer for 35-45 minutes, or until the outer leaves and stem are tender. Remove from water. Slice the artichokes in half from top to bottom and clean out the choke (the hairy part) with a spoon. Drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and grill on both sides until lightly charred. In a small saute pan melt 6 tablespoons of umami butter and add the radishes until just slightly warmed through. Top the artichokes with buttered radishes and pour any extra butter over the top of the artichokes.

For the Umami Butter:

*This recipes makes a LOT of Umami Butter. You can portion out the butter and freeze what you don’t use.

3/4 cup tomato paste

5 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/2 Tbls anchovy paste

3/4 cup black olives

1 cup balsamic vinegar

1/2 c ground dried porcini, ground into powder

1/4 cup parmesan, grated

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup molasses

1/2 cup canola oil

1 Tbls smoked sea salt

2 Tbls dried bonito flakes

1/2 Tbls white truffle oil

Puree all ingredients in a blender until smooth…

Fold 5 pounds soft butter into paste and mold into bricks with parchment before refrigerating.