Vegan Fonds d’Artichauts à la Grecque

[Vegan Artichoke Hearts a la Grecque - actually they're already vegan]

...Julia gives directions for fresh artichokes and for frozen ones...and neither are available here...although I'm pretty sure I've seen the frozen ones at Trader Joes before...

...so I'm going with canned ones...for the frozen ones Julia says they have already been acidulated so only use 1 teaspoon of lemon juice in the court bouillon...and these canned ones from TJs also have an acidifier so I'm going with the smaller amount...

...and this time for the Vegan Court Bouillon I'm using celery seeds and all dried herbs as I don't have any fresh right now...

...so you just boil the artichokes in the court bouillon for about 10 minutes...

...and then you remove the artichokes and boil down the remaining bouillon until you have just a 1/4 cup or so...

...and pour that over the artichokes...I thought these were quite pretty with their little stems still attached...

...Julia says to garnish with fresh herbs so I went out to the winter garden and clipped some parsley...which is amazingly still flourishing here at the end of december...

...and just snipped that over the artichokes and then I put them into the fridge to have as a side with our dinner...

...but some friends from the neighborhood arrived bearing little neighborhood-type gifts...so I thought I'd set out a quick little vegan charcuterie board...

...it just took a couple of minutes to pull it together...I overturned a carton of Miyoko's cream cheese, and sliced some Violife aged cheddar into quarters...dumped some olives and pickles into a little dish...and added a couple of rows of crackers...and then I had the genius idea to set the dish of artichokes out as well...(and I was able to snap a photo while our guests oooohed and aaahed over the kitchen remodel...

...it was really a nice little visit and it looked either like I'd gone to a lot of trouble or I was expecting guests...and neither was the case...

Substitutions: None...

Recipe here: Mastering the Art of French Cooking

p. 538