“The call for a more accessible collection of Neruda’s important poems is answered with City Lights’ The Essential Neruda, a 200-page edition that offers 50 of Neruda’s key poems. The editors and translators know how to extract gold from a lifetime of prolific writing. If you want a handy Neruda companion and don’t know where to begin, this is it.”
– The Bloomsbury Review

“What better way to celebrate the hundred years of Neruda’s glorious residence on our earth than this selection of crucial works – in both languages! – by one of the greatest poets of all time. A splendid way to begin a love affair with our Pablo or, having already succumbed to his infinite charms, revisit him passionately again and again and yet again.”
– Ariel Dorfman, Pulitzer-prize winner author of “Death and the Maiden”

” …The Essential Neruda will prove to be, for most readers, the best introduction to Neruda available in English. In fact, I can think of few other books that have given me so much delight so easily. At only 234 pages (bilingual), it somehow manages to convey the fullness of Neruda’s poetic arc: Reading it is like reading the autobiography of a poetic sensibility (granted, the abridged version).”
– The Austin Chronicle

Paz,
Mark

Baby artichokes can generally be found at your local Whole Foods type store, or in my case, the green grocer on my block — lucky me!

Baby artichokes are easy to clean: as with the large version, cut the very tops off as well as the sharp ends of the outer leaves; remove any brown or bruised leaves; cut them in quarters and scrape the choke. Remember, all artichokes will discolor if they’re not immediately put in a bath of water with a bit of acid before cooking — lemon is a good choice.

My favorite technique for baby artichoke cookery is incredibly simple: an extended sautee in a heavy — ideally copper-bottomed — skillet. Start them on high heat with olive oil and a good dash of salt and pepper for nice caramelization, then reduce the heat to medium low and cook until tender. Add a few table spoons of liquid as they cook if you’d like. The chokes will cook more quickly this way.

An easy, simple sauce:

When the chokes are done, remove them and return the pan to high heat. Add a tablespoon of butter, a teaspoon of grainy dijon mustard, a clove of (fresh! always fresh) minced garlic, 2 teaspoons minced shallot, and salt and pepper to taste. Cook 30 seconds,then add the juice of half a lemon and a half teaspoon of fresh thyme.

Remove from the heat immediately and top the chokes while still the sauce is still hot.

Enjoy!

Definitely going to try this, thanks!!

THANKS!

None of it was ever entirely edible, and even the petals all the way in the center were prickly…..

was this my mistake?

My favorite method for ‘chokes is to slice the stem off flush with the bottom. This makes for an artichoke that stands upright, albeit upside-down.

Now the choke sits before you, helpless on its back. The pointy side should be pointing right at your nose. One more slice to remove the point, parallel with the stem cut, reveals the beautiful leaf structure and the yellow interior.

It is into this newly uncovered interior that I rudely thrust several peeled heads of garlic.

Finally the choke is lowered into a steamer basket, atop an elixer of further goodness. I use water for the boil, with a few shakes of Old Bay, and then douse the chokes with a splash of good chicken stock, olive oil, and a pinch of salt. A squirt of Braggs liquid aminos never hurt anyone either.

A short steam later and you’ll find no unpleasant colors, odors, or tastes… Just sublimely flavored ‘choke, redolent of garlic, and hopefully cooked to perfection.

You barely even need butter… But why not?! Live a little! Dip to your hearts content.

We’ll all die one day. We should eat all the artichokes we can.