Chef Juliette
Artichauts à la Barigoule
Artichauts à la Barigoule turns tender artichokes into little braising vessels, packed with mushrooms and fat bacon, wrapped, wine-braised, then dressed with only a spoonful of dark, concentrated sauce.
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Fonds d’Artichauts à la Florentine
Created by Chef Juliette
Based on No. 2034, Fonds d’Artichauts à la Florentine, from Le Guide Culinaire (1907) by Auguste Escoffier
Tender artichoke bottoms cradle spinach cooked dry with onion, garlic, and anchovy, then disappear beneath ivory Mornay and tiny dice of Gruyère before a fierce final glaze.
Side Dishes
French
Dinner Party
Special Occasion
30 min
Active Time
35 min cook•1 hr 5 min total
Yield4 servings
Fonds d’Artichauts à la Florentine (artichoke bottoms with spinach and Mornay) teaches one severe, useful truth: spinach must surrender all its water before it meets a sauce. Leave it damp and the filling slumps, the artichokes swim, and the Mornay loses its silken coat. Cook it until the pan is dry and the spinach holds a mound, and every layer remains distinct beneath that bronzed glaze.
The original kitchen assumed twelve artichokes, a saucier with Velouté and Mornay ready, a stockpot never cold, and a fierce oven or salamander waiting for the final colour. Here, eight bottoms serve four generously. Prepared fresh or frozen bottoms replace the separate turning and poaching station, the two finished sauces can wait in the cold, and your broiler supplies the glaze. That preparation is brigade scaffolding. The onion cooked in butter, the spinach dried over the fire, the ten gentle minutes with Velouté, and the finishes of Mornay, Gruyère, and anchovy butter are the dish itself, so they stay.
Watch the spinach, not the clock. When it hisses instead of simmering and a spoon leaves the pan floor clean, you may add the Velouté. That is the step that decides everything. One cook, one stove, one evening.
Fonds d’Artichauts à la Florentine belongs to the Parisian grand-kitchen repertory, where à la Florentine became a precise garnish name for spinach, often bound with sauce and finished as a gratin. The familiar tale credits the name to Catherine de’ Medici and her Florentine household, but that tidy origin is disputed; within the French canon, Florentine records a working combination rather than proof of one inventor. The dish passed readily to cuisine bourgeoise because the filled bottoms can wait in their baking dish and receive their final glaze just before the table is called.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
prepared artichoke bottoms
Quantity
8 large
cooked just tender and well drained
parboiled spinach
Quantity
1⅓ packed cups (320 ml / 200 g)
squeezed very dry and chopped
unsalted butter
Quantity
2 tablespoons (30 ml / 28 g)
divided
yellow onion
Quantity
¾ cup (180 ml / 130 g)
finely chopped
fresh garlic paste
Quantity
¼ teaspoon (1.25 ml / 1 g)
anchovy purée
Quantity
2 teaspoons (10 ml / 12 g)
fine sea salt
Quantity
½ teaspoon (2.5 ml / 3 g)
freshly ground black pepper
Quantity
¼ teaspoon (1.25 ml / 0.5 g)
prepared Velouté sauce
Quantity
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon (20 ml / 20 g)
prepared Mornay sauce
Quantity
1¼ cups (300 ml / 300 g)
warmed until fluid
Gruyère
Quantity
⅔ cup (160 ml / 80 g)
cut brunoise-fashion into ⅛-inch (3 mm) dice
anchovy butter
Quantity
1 tablespoon (15 ml / 14 g)
melted
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| prepared artichoke bottomscooked just tender and well drained | 8 large |
| parboiled spinachsqueezed very dry and chopped | 1⅓ packed cups (320 ml / 200 g) |
| unsalted butterdivided | 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 28 g) |
| yellow onionfinely chopped | ¾ cup (180 ml / 130 g) |
| fresh garlic paste | ¼ teaspoon (1.25 ml / 1 g) |
| anchovy purée | 2 teaspoons (10 ml / 12 g) |
| fine sea salt | ½ teaspoon (2.5 ml / 3 g) |
| freshly ground black pepper | ¼ teaspoon (1.25 ml / 0.5 g) |
| prepared Velouté sauce | 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon (20 ml / 20 g) |
| prepared Mornay saucewarmed until fluid | 1¼ cups (300 ml / 300 g) |
| Gruyèrecut brunoise-fashion into ⅛-inch (3 mm) dice | ⅔ cup (160 ml / 80 g) |
| anchovy buttermelted | 1 tablespoon (15 ml / 14 g) |
Equipment Needed
- •Wide 10-inch (25 cm) sauté pan
- •Broiler-safe 2-quart (2-liter) shallow gratin dish
- •Flexible spatula or wooden spoon
- •Clean kitchen towel for drying the artichokes and spinach
Instructions
- 1
Ready the bottoms
Heat the oven to 450°F (230°C) with a rack about 6 inches (15 cm) below the broiler. Butter a shallow broiler-safe gratin dish with 1 teaspoon of the butter. Blot the cooked artichoke bottoms thoroughly, paying attention to the hollow centres, then arrange them hollow-side up. Water trapped there would dilute both filling and sauce.
- 2
Soften the onion
Melt the remaining butter in a wide sauté pan over medium-low heat. Add the onion and cook for 7 to 9 minutes, stirring often, until tender and translucent with only the faintest gold. The onion should sweeten without becoming brown. If it catches, add a teaspoon of water, lower the heat, and scrape the pale fond back into the onion.
- 3
Dry the spinach
Add the chopped spinach and raise the heat to medium-high. Stir, turn, and press it across the broad surface of the pan until every trace of free moisture has evaporated, about 5 to 7 minutes. It is ready when it hisses rather than simmers, looks almost matte, and a spoon drawn through it leaves the pan floor dry. If liquid gathers, do not add the sauce. Keep spreading and stirring. If you have already bound it and the filling slumps, return it to the wide pan and cook gently until it holds a mound. Ça se rattrape.
- 4
Bind the filling
Lower the heat. Add the salt, pepper, garlic paste, and anchovy purée, stirring for 30 seconds so the garlic loses its raw edge. Fold in the prepared Velouté sauce and cook very gently for 10 minutes, stirring often, until the mixture is compact, glossy, and cohesive. Do not let it scorch or boil hard. Taste before adding more salt, since both the anchovy and Velouté bring their own.
- 5
Fill and coat
Divide the spinach mixture among the eight artichoke bottoms, pressing it into the hollows and shaping each portion into a generous low dome. Spoon the warm Mornay over every bottom so the sauce coats the filling and runs just slightly around the base. Scatter the Gruyère brunoise, the tiny dice named by the classical cut, evenly over the sauce. The cheese is diced rather than grated because those small cubes melt into distinct bronzed points.
- 6
Glaze and finish
Bake for 7 to 10 minutes, until the Mornay bubbles at the edges. Switch to the broiler and watch without leaving the oven: 30 to 90 seconds should give a deep butter-gold glaze with brown freckles. If the top colours before the centres are hot, move the dish to a lower rack and continue baking without the broiler. On withdrawing the dish, place only a few drops of melted anchovy butter over each bottom. Serve at once from the gratin dish. À table!
Chef Tips
- •Choose broad, intact artichoke bottoms that will hold a proper spoonful of filling. Frozen bottoms are excellent when fresh artichokes are poor; simmer them only until a knife enters easily, then drain and blot. Canned bottoms can serve, but rinse away the brine and dry them with particular care.
- •The prepared Mornay should fall from a spoon in a broad ribbon and stay where it lands. Warm it gently without boiling. If it becomes too thick to coat, whisk in a teaspoon of cream; if it is loose, reduce it briefly before it reaches the artichokes.
- •Do not grate the Gruyère. The source calls for brunoise, tiny dice, and the word carries the technique. The cubes give a mottled, handsome glaze instead of sealing the Mornay beneath one solid cheese lid.
- •Artichokes can make wine taste unexpectedly sweet. Pour a very dry, high-acid white such as Muscadet, or a dry Champagne for the special table; either has the nerve for anchovy, spinach, and Mornay.
- •Leftovers keep for 2 days in the refrigerator. Reheat them in a moderate oven until the sauce glistens and the centres are hot; hard microwave heat can split the Mornay.
Advance Preparation
- •The Velouté and Mornay may be prepared up to 2 days ahead and refrigerated separately. Reheat them gently, stirring often, before assembling the dish.
- •The spinach filling may be cooked earlier the same day, cooled quickly, and refrigerated. Warm it gently before filling the artichokes so the final glaze heats evenly.
- •The filled and Mornay-coated artichokes may wait, covered and refrigerated, for up to 4 hours. Scatter on the Gruyère just before baking, allow several extra minutes for a cold dish, and reserve the anchovy butter for the moment it leaves the oven.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 270g)
Calories
375 calories
Total Fat
25 g
Saturated Fat
15 g
Trans Fat
1 g
Unsaturated Fat
9 g
Cholesterol
80 mg
Sodium
950 mg
Total Carbohydrates
21 g
Dietary Fiber
7 g
Sugars
5 g
Protein
16 g
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