100ml/3f½fl oz white wine
250ml/9fl oz chicken stock
50g/2 oz parsley, chopped
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Half fill a saucepan with water and add 1 lemon, cut in half, 1 bay leaf, the vinegar and some salt. Snap the stalks off the artichokes. With a paring knife, starting from the base of the artichoke, trim off all the leaves and then remove the hairy choke, until you are left with only a neatly shaped heart. Cut another lemon in half and rub the base of the artichokes with the cut side. Put the artichoke hearts in the saucepan of water, bring to the boil and simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Drain and cut into quarters.
Grate the zest of the remaining 2 lemons and sprinkle over the chicken. Dust the chicken very lightly with flour. In a large casserole, heat half the olive oil, add the chicken and cook over a high heat for a few minutes, until a golden crust has formed. Season with salt and pepper, then remove from the pan and set aside.
Heat the remaining oil in the casserole and add the onions, garlic and remaining bay leaf. Cook for 3-4 minutes over a medium heat, until softened.
Raise the heat and add the white wine to the pan, stirring and scraping at the residue on the base of the pan and allowing the wine to bubble and reduce for a minute or two. Add the reduced wine, chicken and artichokes to the softened onion mixture and cook over a gentle heat, stirring frequently, for about 20 minutes. Add the chicken stock, cover the pan with a lid and braise the chicken very gently for about 30 minutes, stirring half-way through.
Just before serving, add the chopped parsley and the juice of 1 lemon, then adjust the seasoning.
Rhubarb bread and butter pudding
Budino di pane burro al rabarbaro
Bread and butter pud is one of those childhood cravings that don’t ever seem to go away. Here, I’ve taken the pudding from the fish! restaurants and given it a bit of a grown-up twist with the twang of rhubarb, but essentially it’s still a good old ? & ?. Tony
Serves 6–8
600g/1lb 5 oz rhubarb, cut into 2.5cm/1in pieces
200g/7 oz caster sugar
300g/10 oz thickly sliced white
bread, crusts removed
40g/1½oz butter, softened
300ml/½ pint milk
1 vanilla pod, split open lengthways 4 eggs
300ml/½ pint double cream
icing sugar for dusting
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4. Put the rhubarb in a saucepan with 50g/2 oz of the caster sugar and 2 tablespoons of water and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook for 5 minutes, or until the rhubarb is just tender but still holding its shape, then set aside.
Butter the bread with the softened butter and cut each slice into 4 triangles. Place a layer of the triangles, slightly overlapping, in a 1.8 litre/3 pint ovenproof dish. Spoon over half the rhubarb and top with the rest of the bread, then spoon over the remaining rhubarb.
Bring the milk and vanilla pod to the boil in a saucepan, then remove from the heat and leave to infuse for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, whisk the eggs and remaining sugar together in a large bowl. Stir the cream into the boiled milk and pour on to the egg mixture, stirring well. Pour the mixture through a sieve, over the bread and rhubarb. Press the bread down gently to submerge it if necessary.
Bake the pudding for about 45-60 minutes, until just set. Remove from the oven and dust with icing sugar before serving.
Tiramisu
Pock me-up pudding
The original tiramisu ('pick me up') was created in the Sixties at the El Toula restaurant, just outside Treviso. It’s a truly great dessert, but perhaps a little heavy for modern tastes, especially at the end of a big dinner. Here is a lighter version, served in crisp wafer baskets. Giorgio
Serves 8
4 eggs, separated
100g/3½oz caster sugar, plus 2 tablespoons
500g/1lb 2 oz mascarpone cheese
6 tablespoons marsala wine
250ml/9fl oz fresh black coffee
16 savoiardi biscuits (sponge
fingers) cocoa powder, for dusting
For thecialde(wafer baskets):
100g/3½ oz butter, softened
100g/3½ oz caster sugar
100g/3½oz plain flour
2 large egg whites
For the coffee sauce: 200ml/7fl oz milk 2 egg yolks 50g/2 oz caster sugar 1½ teaspoons instant coffee
To make the cialde, put the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and beat together until pale and fluffy. Sift in the flour and mix well, then stir in the egg whites. Cover and chill for 1–2 hours.
Preheat the oven to 170°C/325°F/Gas Mark 3. Line 2 baking sheets with baking parchment and spread 4 thin circles of the mixture on each one, each about 12cm/5in in diameter. Bake for 5-6 minutes, until golden. Take the discs off the paper immediately and gently mould each one over an upturned tea cup or small bowl so that it forms a basket shape. Leave to cool, then set aside.
To make the coffee sauce, bring the milk to the boil in a saucepan. Mix the egg yolks, sugar and coffee together in a bowl. When the milk comes to the boil, pour it on to the egg mixture, stirring constantly. Return the mixture to the pan and stir over a gentle heat, without letting it boil, for 2 minutes or until thickened. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
For the tiramisu mixture, beat the egg yolks and 100g/3½oz sugar together with an electric hand-held beater until pale and quite stiff. Add the mascarpone and beat until smooth, then whisk in the marsala. Place in the fridge. In a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites and 2 tablespoons of sugar together until stiff, then fold into the mascarpone mixture. Return to the fridge for 30 minutes.
Put the black coffee in a bowl, briefly soak the savoiardi
