Artichoke Pasta

To prepare artichoke pasta, first take care of cleaning the artichokes. Remove the tougher outer leaves, shorten and clean the stem and base, cutting away the tips 1. Then split the artichoke in half and remove the inner fuzz 2. Now slice the artichokes thinly. Move on to the shallot: peel it, slice it 3 and chop it finely.

Fry the shallot in a large pan with a generous amount of oil. When the shallot is well wilted, add the artichokes 5. Sauté them for a minute then add water (about 3 and 1/3 tbsps) and salt 6.

Cover and cook for about 15 minutes so that the artichokes are nice and tender. In the meantime, put a pot of salted water on the heat for cooking the pasta. Once the artichokes are cooked, take about 1/3 of them and transfer them to a bowl 7. Add some pasta cooking water 8 and blend to obtain a smooth cream 9.

Cook the pasta al dente and in the meantime cut the mint leaves into strips 10, taking care not to pass over them too many times with the knife. Drain the pasta and transfer it to the pan with the artichokes. Add the cream 11 and adjust the consistency with pasta cooking water, letting it risotto for a couple of minutes so that it blends with the seasoning. Finish with a drizzle of oil 12, mint and a grind of black pepper. Saute and plate!