April 2015 – Katie Curtis

Tomatoes Provencal

29 April, 2015/in humbleonion/by Katie

Julia Child let many gifts to us….

What to do with tomatoes in the off season just might be my favorite.

Tomatoes Provencal is one of those dishes that is greater then the sum of its parts.

Simple herbs, bread crumbs, garlic, olive oil salt and pepper. That’s it!

Bake for 10-15 minutes and then, take a warm buttery crunchy herby garlic bite, with the floral warm softness of the tomato underneath.

I usually make these for a side dish with meat – lamb, steak, ham. The first time I made them was for Easter years ago, but they are so easy and so good I make them for holidays or for a casual dinner or for brunch.

There is something so lovely about opening up Julia’s cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and hear it’s spine crack under the weight of all those recipes. It is like opening a treasure box filled with jewels, and selecting one and holding it up to the light. Then when you make it and realize how simple and delicious it is, it becomes a memory of goodness, of beauty, and if you share it with others, of love.

I hope you try this one soon. Especially if you are craving tomato season as the weather turns warmer. I promise it won’t disappoint!

Tomatoes a la Provencale Recipe (printer version here)

adapted from Mastering The Art of French Cooking by Julia Child

6 firm ripe fleshy tomatoes (about 2 lb)

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs

2 tb minced fresh basil leaves

2 tb minced fresh thyme leaves

2 cloves garlic, mashed

3 tb minced shallots or green onions

Salt and pepper

Preheat your oven to 400ºF (200ºC). Remove the stems of the tomatoes. Cut the tomatoes in two half. Squeeze out seeds and juice. Add salt and pepper

Blend the rest of the ingredients together in a bowl. Fill each of the tomatoes with the mixture. Sprinkle the tomatoes with olive oil.

In a shallow baking or gratin dish arrange the tomatoes not too close from each other. Bake the tomatoes in the oven at 400º (200ºC) for 15 minutes max. Serve as a starter or as a side dish.

Shadow Boxing

24 April, 2015/2 Comments/in Uncategorized/by Katie

Being an adult is strange. Especially because we have to interact with other adults, some of whom are fully baked and developed and well rounded, others who are only partially done developing, arrested and bruised. It is especially daunting when we realize that depending on the day, either one of these is a great description of ourselves.

A linear time line like age isn’t all that helpful of a frame of reference. It would be much easier if we were all wearing T-shirts that gave updates to our state of mind, so that we could know “I’m in the middle of a difficult time with my husband/boss/sister and my heart hurts” or “I was up all night with a teething baby and I am just trying to survive until bedtime.”

But the thing that I am finding increasingly true about growing up is that we are who we are who we are. There is an essentialness to ourselves that was there from the get go, and no schooling, no vocation, no amount of time, and – with the exception of miracles and trauma – no big life events are going to alter it. We can grow, for sure. When we do, we are just becoming more of ourselves. The hardest thing for me is how our true selves are often residing in our blind spot. Buried so deep under business and work and a full life. It’s difficult and exhausting to discover what has been there the whole time. But so necessary.

Confusious, that sage Eastern ancient philosopher, said “Know thyself; it is the beginning of wisdom.” Didn’t he know how hard this is? What horrible advice to give when the task is so impossible. Especially for our current age, since there are so many distractions. The woman 60 years ago who was trying to run from herself had gossip and sherry and bridge. At least these involved community and weekly scheduled events. Today she has Instagram and wine and on-line shopping, all of which are at her fingertips, solitary, and immediately gratified. She can run much faster away, much more frequently. I stood at a pre-school outing about five years ago where one mom said, “I used to think motherhood was really lonely, and then I joined Facebook.” I was unsure what to say; Facebook has never cured the isolation of motherhood for me. Reading great writers, running with friends, volunteering to teach cooking classes at the pregnancy shelter, dinners with friends and family do.

As much as other people may drive us crazy, relationships and community teach us about our essential self. Alone, we tend to be shadow boxers and wear blinders. Alone, as Anne Lamott says, we are doomed. So as our communities tend to decay into isolation, our essential self gets harder to discover. We may know exactly what is going on in the plots of our favorite shows, our kids baseball schedule, and our paycheck but barely anything about the state of our heart – or our neighbors heart – unless we are checking in.

My own days are teaching me that this disconnection – from myself and from other people – is always painful. I am trying to make time for these connections. And I am trying to take time to figure out what is essential to me – to save on heartache, yes, but to live more deeply too.

I never fell for the whole perfectionist trap of motherhood, thanks to my large family upbringing. The Mt. Vesuvius laundry pile that lived in our basement, along with perpetually clogged gutters really eased me into the imperfect nature of family life. I did, however, fall for the illusion of control I liked to think I had over my life. I could think my way out of any problem. But the problem of ourselves, or finding our essential, authentic selves, is it has no book, no manual, no road map. By its very nature, authenticity is uncharted territory.

Anna Quindlen in her book ‘Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake’ shared this same angst. She wrote, “it’s odd when I think of the arc of my life, from child to young woman to aging adult. First I was who I was. Then I didn’t know who I was. Then I invented someone and became her. Then I began to like what I’d invented. And finally I was what I was again. It turned out I wasn’t alone in that particular progression.”

The task of becoming ourselves is at times hard, boring, and frustrating stuff. But when I take stock, and notice what is real, was is lasting and meaningful and true, it is very often the least interesting and hardest parts of my day. The parts we want to avoid. Having the tough conversations with your spouse. Being the person who is making the doctors appointments and lunches, checking on a neighbor, making the dreaded phone call to iron out a disagreement, helping the kindergartener practice her sight words for the hundredth time, doing the dishes so the next day can begin fresh, without today’s mess. These are not tweet worthy moments. They are not framers. But they make for strong families, communities, readers, and lives.

The real work of life, of discovering ourselves takes patience, which is hard in a world that wants instant gratification. Good books, good friendships, good food and good wine all take time. What makes us think a good life would be any different? It is tempting, when we are waiting to feel whole, to settle for lesser things. But going hungry in our deeper selves doesn’t ever work. We have to feed it, one prayer, one poem, one conversation at a time.

Quinoa Bowl With Balsamic Vinaigrette and Roasted Vegetables

21 April, 2015/in humbleonion/by Katie

Have you ever heard of a Buddha Bowl?

There are lots floating around lately in the healthy eating world. This website gives some examples as well as this definition from Urban Dictionary:

buddha bowl (n). a bowl which is packed so full that it has a rounded “belly” appearance on the top much like the belly of a buddha

I am an 80/20 girl when it comes to healthy eating/indulgence, with delicious flavors a requirement 100% of the time and a weakness for anything French. But, I love feeling great, so sometimes I need to make a big batch of this quinoa salad to have in the fridge for the week. Plus, one pot/bowl cooking makes life easy.

And, my husband loves this dish.

The basic building blocks of a buddha bowl are:

1. Grains – if you are eating legumes, use whatever you like. I love how the quinoa has protein and absorbs the dressing, but black beans, lentils, etc. are all great. I added chick peas too because I love them.

2. Protein – you can add your favorite meat or beans or tofu as well. I counted the quinoa and chick peas as protein.

3. Something Crunch – I used carrots and celery in this one, but nuts, onions, seeds, asian noodles, etc. are all yummy.

4. Something Creamy – avocado, feta, mozzarella, goat cheese, are all good options. Hummus and dairy based dips are yummy too. Noodles also offer a creamy element.

5. Veggies – roasted veggies have a concentrated flavor, so I tend to love them, and nutty cauliflower is my favorite right now. I often make a big batch of roasted veggies on a Sunday and use them up during the week. Any raw veggies, lettuces, sprouts, and and marinated veggies are all great too.

6. Dressing – lots of buddha bowls use tahini dressing but I went with more mediterranean flavors. I make it with Asian flavors too, and you can even stir store-bought pesto into the quinoa with yummy results. (Basil mozzarella balls and cherry tomatoes go very well with this dressing.)

**I like to make sure I have something acidic – the dressing, olives, capers, etc. But my husband doesn’t love olives and capers so I add them myself.

The thing that gives this dish its flavor is the dressing, and when you add it to the warm quinoa, it absorbes all that goodness. Balsamic vinegar, dijion and garlic are are mixed with extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper – pretty simple. If you have favorite homemade dressing ingredients – lemon, shallots, scallions – you really can’t go wrong, but my husband loves balsamic so that’s what I use. It also gets better every day it sits.

Quinoa with Balsamic Vinaigrette and Roasted Veggies (printer version here):

Ingredients:

Quinoa

2 onions, sliced into rings

1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

1 head of cauliflower, cut into florets

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

2 carrots, diced

2 celery, diced

feta or goat cheese, crumbled

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425.

Bring one cup water to boil, then add 2 cups of quinoa. (Cook according to package directions, usually for 15 min).

For Dressing (I use a 1:1 ratio for oil and vinegar, use what you prefer):

¼ cup balsamic vinaigrette

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon dijon mustard

1 clove garlic, minced or pressed in garlic press

salt and pepper

Toss half of dressing with quinoa as soon as it is done cooking. Set aside in large bowl.

For Roasted Veggies (select 2 or 3 veggies):

Slice or cut up veggies in as uniform a size as possible for even cooking.

I used cauliflower, onions and cherry tomatoes.

Sprinkle with EVOO, salt and pepper. Cook for 15-20 minutes, turning halfway through.

Assemble Bowl: Stir quinoa, roasted veggies, chopped veggies and chick peas together. Add additional dressing to coat all ingredients. Sprinkle with feta or goat cheese, and capers if desired.

Red Lipstick 4ever: A Love Letter to Women

15 April, 2015/1 Comment/in Uncategorized/by Katie

To the woman who sat near me at that brunch, with your perfectly coiffed cloud of gray curls, wearing pearls at your throat, bright red lips and a pastel sweater set, I just wanted you to know that I see you.

I see how you are doing womanhood. How you are aging, but you take such good care of yourself, how you are polite and strong but open and warm. You are in command of you, and your life, and you exude happiness, the kind that lets me know it is good to be where you are. And to keep wearing red lipstick.

And to the lady checking out before me at BJ’s, with your denture cleaner and wine and books and oranges, I will come over to your house anytime. Because I like to read and drink wine and eat oranges, too. And I hope I am doing it at every age. I can see by your hunched shoulders you could give a $#%&. That makes me love you even more.

To the mother of a friend, who loved us and hosted us and wore a killer dress at her son’s wedding, thank you. For painting a picture for me on how to do that: give your son away.

To an editor who keeps learning and growing and encouraging, I see how generous you are with your life and your time, and I hope to pay it forward someday. And I will try a Reiki massage because of how you talk about them.

I have recently noticed how much I am paying attention to women who have come before me. They are role models by default, as they inhabit the title of mature woman, which I am on my way to inhabit. So I am taking notes.

Some are happy. Some are defeated. I try to figure out why. Most are quiet, like they have learned to only speak when it is absolutely neccessary. Some are entitled. Some have for one reason or another blended into life not wanting to stick out, and so they don’t. But I still see them. They are still representing women. I see their cross necklaces and canes and bras stuffed from their mastectomies. And they are beautiful to me. Their life is a chapter under the definition of woman, and I am trying to learn, to see how to do this well, how to become a woman, using every example.

I am also paying attention to younger girls, studying where I came from, where my girls will be soon. To you teenagers, with your impossibly smooth skin and flat stomaches, who wear braces and bright makeup and straitened hair and cut off jeans and tiny shirts from Abercrombie, I see you too. I see the way you glance at my brood through the corner of your eye at the mall. The way you laugh uncomfortably when my daughters molest your neon fingerprinted nails. I see how bright and lost and hopeful and sad you are. I see how you stick together, and am jealous of your free time with close girlfriends, the ability to lay at the beach on a Saturday or linger over pancakes at the diner. You are exactly where you should be.

Middle school girls: you might be my favorite. You are so happy. You giggle and smile and your eyes twinkle. And you love kids. You love to sit with them and brush their hair and play duck duck goose and revisit your own childhood for a little while, and then go back and do your algebra and social studies and Lacrosse. You are at a bridge in between childhood and adulthood, a poignant moment that always seems to rush by too fast, like newborn babies and spring. You are so open – life has been nurturing you up to now and you are so willing to nurture it right back.

When I was your age, I used to study the mothers of little children, so you may be looking at me too. I used to watch how they pushed their kids hair back from their eyes and caress their chins, how they negotiated constant conflict and swung their toddlers on their hips. How they used to bounce their little babies, and wipe chocolate from little hands, all while carrying on a conversation. They operated at a high frequency, since their mode of living was wired to young children, and I was in awe of the importance of their work as mothers. If you are looking at me, if you are paying attention, I hope to be sure to smile at you. To let you know I see you, too.

We never know the seeds we may plant. But we are a tribe. A sisterhood. We may not be conscious of it as we race through our days, but we are always painting a picture, holding a seat in the auditorium of what it means to be a woman. We have the power to make our tribe stronger. By our noticing each other, supporting each other, by our presence, by the nod of our head as we pass each other on the street or at the store. By taking the few minutes to chat with each other about good books and sick children, where to find the best shoes or the best oncologist. To let each other know that they are seen and heard and counted. Or just how sweet the oranges are right now while we’re in line at the checkout.

We can lift each other up in a glance, a gesture, a wink. Being a girl is hard, but it deserves to be celebrated. I am picking out my red lipstick ASAP. With such strong beautiful woman around me, I’ll wear it one day soon.

What I’m Reading

10 April, 2015/0 Comments/in Uncategorized/by Katie

For some reason, I could hardly read this winter. Head + pillow = sleep was the equation of my failure. I blame skiing. And sickness. But here are a few that I managed to read/get more than half-way through (still finishing a few! See post title in the present tense.) Enter spring’s longer days and, surprise! I can stay awake and read. Plus I had those 3 vacation days in Puerto Rico to jump start my brain that’s been frozen in a tundra. (Yes, I am blaming yet another thing on this winter).

I would recommend all of these because I close a book if I can’t get into it. I have no guilt in cutting my losses. So I hope you get to dive into a few of these soon. And I would love to hear any recommendations you all have for the last best book you’ve read. Word of mouth is a book lover’s best friend.

Wild by Cheryl Strayed –

I read this on my trip to Puerto Rico (haven’t seen the movie). I really liked the writing in this book, and sort of studied the way she crafted her memoir (the lost boot in the first few pages = a great hook. You couldn’t wait to see how she finished the trail with no boots! At least I couldn’t the emotional lightweight that I am). I also loved how tangible her mom’s love for her and her siblings was in the first chapter. It hit such an emotional note from the get go that you were invested, rooting, caring from the very start. (I still have about a third of the book left but hope to finish it this weekend.) Other books by this author: I read a little bit of her Tiny Beautiful Things when I borrowed it from my friend pool side, which is an anonymous advice column she wrote and the pieces are so encouraging and uplifting.

Someone by Alice McDermott –

This book is like staring at a painting. The mental images are so finely drawn (i.e. “I could see the down on my mother’s face”) that even though the events in the main character’s life are very uninteresting and underachieving (her first job is at a funeral home, as a teenager she purposely makes mistakes when cooking what her mother asks so she won’t be expected to cook in her life) the book reads with a pulse that comes from amazing observations of people, creating characters that stay in your memory from tiny details. The title ‘Someone’ is meant to underscore that she is almost no one of consequence, but every life story can be seen through an artistic lens so that you can find beauty and meaning in it. It is set in Brooklyn, where the author grew up, and her chiseled memories and sketches of this city add a beautiful backdrop to the book. Other books by this author: Charming Billy, which I loved and was also filled with amazing character sketches and the Irish culture in the big city.

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson –

This exquisitely written book is narrated by a preacher who is dying, and is a letter to his young son where he examines his faith, and his life, in order to give an account to this young boy about where he came from. He tells gripping stories about his father – who was a pragmatic minister – and grandfather, who claimed to have been visited by Jesus – and their lives in the newly settled town in Iowa. But it is also a universal story about the times in our life filled with trials and difficulty and loneliness. Oh, and it won the Pulitzer Prize for literature. So you don’t have to take my word for it. Other books by this author: Home, which I can’t wait to read.

Death By Living by N.D. Wilson –

This was recommended by another blogger and it was a quick read. As a parent, I really liked it, since he did a great job of putting to words how fleeting and how marvelous our job is to give kids their foundation in life. He is a dad of 5 and really into stoking kids imaginations and has written many young adult books. He is the son of a preacher and he reads like it so if that is not your bag you may not love it. And he kind of put down other faiths (Catholics love John Paul II because he was friends with Bono. Like that is the only thing he was know for?) besides his Calvinist one but the essential idea – that life is hard and the good things in it just might cost a lot – is a good message. Other books by this author: Notes From The Tilt-A-Whirl.

This is The Story of a Happy Marriage –

Where do I start with how much I love Ann Patchett? Both her fiction and non-fiction make me hang on every word. She is smart enough to not let sentimentality take over, but she has enough heart to put pure logic in its place. She gives her essays such a structure around meaning that I think of them long after I put them down. A lonely drive in the south where she gives a stranger a lift, a fight with her husband in a choice restaurant in Paris, a road trip in a Winnebago where they decide to stay together. All of these scenes can be recalled as if an intimate friend reported them, which is how the best books read. Other books by this author: Bel Canto, State of Wonder

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing –

The title does not lie. I could do a whole post JUST on this book. I feel changed and like organization is within my grasp, and it is so simple. Just get rid of all the extra stuff you don’t need in your house! If that sounds daunting (it does to me), Marie gives you the KonMari method and breaks it down into no-nonsense baby steps that are so doable. She strongly recommends you tackle each category of stuff in order – clothes, books, paperwork, miscellaneous stuff, and sentimental stuff. She sliced through the psycological reasons we hold on to stuff. My house/closet/basement will never be the same. I’ve already filled 8 garbage bags of stuff and itching to do more.

American Sniper –

My husband read this first and I probably picked it up so we could talk about it together. But guess what? I really couldn’t put it down. I read it in a weekend at the ski condo, and I can attest that you can read it while having 4 kids jump on you on a snowy Sunday morning. It has some great story telling. Chris Kyle (and his wife and co-writers) have a knack for taking their experiences and pulling out gripping tales. The poignancy of his life makes these stories all the more weighty.

Next Up:

The Orphan Train – Just picked it out for book club but I have heard great things. I also opted to have it sent to my Kindle and my Audible app. The odds are much higher that I will finish a book these days if I have it on both.

Root Vegetable Shepard’s Pie

9 April, 2015/in humbleonion/by Katie

{Alternate Post Title: The dinner everyone will love. Kids. Picky Paleo Husbands. Everyone.}

It’s Spring (technically!) – almost time for asparagus, and fiddle head ferns, and after that tomatoes…but here in New England, there is still this pesky white stuff coming down. All over our yard. So we’re still craving some comfort food.

After I got back from my trip to Puerto Rico (which was every bit as restorative and relaxing as you can imagine. Check out my upcoming post about what I’ve been reading on katiecurtis.net which was brought to you by my vacation) I wanted to show a little love to my family and was really inspired to make a comfort food dinner.

I had been dreaming of putting a twist on the one Alton Brown makes (which for the record is my favorite original Shepard’s Pie recipe) by using more root vegetables instead of the traditional peas and corn. I think the best outcome of eating the whole foods/Paleo diets is you really do start to crave rich, hearty vegetables. So I mixed the mashed potatoes with rutabaga (so delicious!):

and I mixed the lamb meat mixture with carrots, parsnips, and celery root.

The results were so soul satisfying and healthy and everyone licked their bowls clean.

You can very easily substitute any root vegetable in this recipe – and I usually use celery root with the potatoes so that is definitely a win but the rutabaga was incredible.

I think this may have to become a spring time tradition, since these ingredients really are eating seasonally – root veggies are still being harvested and lamb just says spring. You can easily substitute beef (or mushrooms if you want to go meatless) for the lamb.

Hope you try this for your peeps today – it is so easy and you get to clean up while it cooks so you can spend time with the people you love. Bonus: This might have just bought me my next vacation since everyone knows they’ll eat well when I get back.

Root Vegetable Shepherd’s Pie (printer version here):

Ingredients:

For the potatoes:

1 pounds russet potatoes, cubed

1 pound rutabega, cubed

1/2 cup milk (or half & half)

2 ounces unsalted butter

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 egg yolk

For the meat filling:

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup chopped onion

2 carrots, peeled and diced small

2 parsnips, peeled and diced small

1 small celery root, diced small

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/2 pounds ground lamb

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

3 teaspoons tomato paste

1 1/2 cups chicken broth

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

2 teaspoons freshly chopped rosemary leaves

1 teaspoon freshly chopped thyme leaves

Directions:

Peel the potatoes and rutabaga and cut into 1/2-inch dice. Place in a medium saucepan and cover with cold water. Set over high heat, cover and bring to a boil. Once boiling, uncover, decrease the heat to maintain a simmer and cook until tender and easily crushed with tongs, approximately 10 to 15 minutes. Place the milk and butter into a microwave-safe container and heat in the microwave until warmed through, about 35 seconds. Drain the potatoes/rutabaga mixture in a colander and then return to the saucepan. Mash the potatoes and then add the half and half, butter, salt and pepper and continue to mash until smooth. Stir in the yolk until well combined.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

While the potatoes are cooking, prepare the filling. Place the oil into a 12-inch saute pan and set over medium high heat. Once the oil shimmers, add the onions, carrots and parsnips and saute just until they begin to take on color, approximately 3 to 4 minutes. Add the garlic and stir to combine. Add the lamb, salt and pepper and cook until browned and cooked through, approximately 3 minutes. Sprinkle the meat with the flour and toss to coat, continuing to cook for another minute. Add the tomato paste, chicken broth, Worcestershire, rosemary, thyme, and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer slowly 10 to 12 minutes or until the sauce is thickened slightly.

Spread evenly into an 11 by 7-inch glass baking dish. Top with the mashed potato/rutabaga mixture, starting around the edges to create a seal to prevent the mixture from bubbling up and smooth with a rubber spatula. Place on a parchment lined half sheet pan on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 25 minutes or just until the potatoes begin to brown. Remove to a cooling rack for at least 15 minutes before serving.

(Adapted from Alton Brown’s Shepards Pie recipe found at foodnetwork.com)

Artichoke Gratinata

3 April, 2015/in humbleonion/by Katie

My friends, did you know that there is a way to make an artichoke taste more…

like an artichoke? I mean, to bring out its artichoke essence and let it sit on your tongue, making your taste buds explode with artichoke-ness?

(If you don’t like artichokes you might want to click out.)

I have such a weakness for these strange little vegetables. When there is a dish on a restaurant menu that has even a hint of artichoke in it, that’s pretty much what I am going to order. Almost every time. I love love artichokes. Dip, soup, pasta, straight up. All good.

So a few years back when I was looking for artichoke bottoms for our previous Easter tradition of filling artichoke bottoms with petit pois, or little baby peas, which is a really cute and very spring-y dish, I couldn’t find any artichoke bottoms. I searched for an artichoke recipe to replace that on our menu (for the record I haven’t seen artichoke bottoms since, maybe they stopped selling them?). I stumbled upon this recipe from Giada De Laurentiis for Artichoke Gratinata – an Italian version of the French Gratin which you probably figured out – and never looked back because, yum.

This recipe is sort of like a meditation in which you contemplate how many delicious things can I add to the artichoke to make it even better? Olive oil? Garlic and Parsley? Ok.

How about wine? Marsala sounds good! (I bet white would be good too!)

And chicken broth and red pepper flakes. Good. To top it off, how about parmesan, bread crumbs and butter?

Are we good? Have we covered the universe of delicious steps to do to food? Barring chocolate, I think so.

I hope you try this for a holiday or special dinner soon, you will thank me, I promise it will be in heavy rotation after because holy goodness. A revelation. This is why I love food.

Artichoke Gratinata (printer version here on Food Network):

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 pound frozen artichoke hearts, thawed
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup Marsala wine
2 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup plain bread crumbs
1/3 cup grated Parmesan
Directions:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Warm the olive oil in a heavy bottom skillet over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the artichoke hearts, parsley, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes and cook until the artichoke hearts are starting to brown at the edges, about 3 minutes. Add the chicken broth and wine and simmer for 3 minutes. Transfer the artichoke mixture to a 2-quart baking dish.

Melt the butter in the same skillet used to cook the artichokes. In a small bowl mix the melted butter with the bread crumbs. Stir in the Parmesan and top the artichokes with the bread crumbs. Bake until the top is golden, about 10 minutes.

Recipe courtesy of Giada De Laurentiis