Artichoke

Artichokes are a spring vegetable in Greece and the season is short, which is part of why they are treated with more ceremony than most. Anginares a la polita, the Constantinopolitan dish of artichoke hearts stewed with potatoes, carrots, spring onions and a great deal of dill, finished either with lemon or with avgolemono, is the clearest expression of that and appears on tables through Lent.

Preparing them is the whole job. The outer leaves are pulled off until the pale ones show, the top is cut away, the stem peeled, and the hairy choke scooped out of anything larger than a baby artichoke. Every trimmed piece goes straight into water sharpened with lemon juice, since cut artichoke browns within a minute or two of meeting the air.

Frozen artichoke hearts are one of the few convenience products a Greek cook will use without much argument, and in a stewed dish they give a result close enough to fresh to be worth the saved half hour. Crete pairs artichokes with broad beans in a spring stew, and the island of Tinos grows a variety prized enough to have its own festival, which says something about how the vegetable is regarded.