At Il Buco Alimentari e Vineria, Justin Smillie goes through 60 cases of artichokes a week to keep up with the demand for this dish. He fries the artichokes until the edges are crispy, then tosses them with lemon and orange zest and smoky-hot crushed Aleppo pepper. Slideshow: Amazing Artichoke Recipes
How to Make It
Working with 1 artichoke at a time, using a serrated bread knife, trim off all but 2 inches of the leaves. Pull off and discard the dark green outer leaves, then peel and trim the bottom and the stem. Quarter the artichoke and scrape out the hairy choke. Rub the artichoke quarters all over with the lemon half, squeeze the extra lemon juice into a small bowl of water and add the quartered artichoke to the lemon water. Repeat with the remaining artichokes.
In a medium saucepan of salted boiling water, blanch the artichokes until they are crisp-tender, about 3 minutes. Drain, transfer to a plate and pat dry.
In a medium saucepan, heat 1 inch of oil to 350°. Fry the artichokes until crisp, 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer to paper towels to drain.
In a medium bowl, toss the artichokes with the parsley, lemon zest, orange zest and Aleppo pepper. Season with Maldon sea salt and serve right away.
Notes
Aleppo pepper is a moderately hot crushed dried chile from Turkey and Syria. It is available at gourmet markets and at penzeys.com.