Tinos Anginares me Koukia (Αγκινάρες με Κουκιά)

Tinos anginares me koukia are a Cycladic spring pot: fresh artichoke hearts, young broad beans, olive oil, lemon, and dill, cooked until the sauce turns pale and glossy. This is not a little vegetable side pretending to be supper. On the islands, when the fields give these two at the same time, they go into one pot and feed the table with bread.

The one thing that decides it is the artichoke prep. Trim them bravely, rub every cut surface with lemon, and keep the hearts in lemon water until they meet the oil. Artichokes brown almost before you finish the knife work; the lemon keeps their flavor clean and their color alive, so the beans stay sweet beside them instead of tasting muddy.

Use fresh broad beans if the pods are young and heavy. If the beans are large, slip off the pale skins after a quick blanch, no drama. I write this one as I cook it in spring in Thessaloniki after the laiki, with the dill still wet in its paper. The region is the dish's surname, and here the surname is Tinos.