In the early hours of December 21, 1935, New York City’s mayor strolled into the bronx market followed by a dozen policemen.
Hopping up onto the back of a cabbage truck, mayor LaGuardia turned and addressed the assembled farmers and street vendors.
Starting in one week, the mayor announced, New York City will be instituting a total ban on the sale, display, or possession of a “a serious & threatening” commodity.
This substance, which had been funding a vast underground mafia network, was the humble artichoke.
You see, two decades earlier, a couple of Italian farmers out in California had started growing a crop of one of their favorite vegetables; the artichoke.
But while it turned out Californians weren’t too keen on them, newly immigrated italians on the east coast couldn’t get enough of their favorite vegetable!
Soon the Italian farmers out in California were sending train cars full of artichokes straight to New York, barely able to keep up with demand.
But then the fast-growing artichoke trade caught the eye of the Morello-Terranova crime family.
At first, the mafia family simply imposed an “informal” import tax on every artichoke train car coming from California. But then things began to escalate.
Mafia agents were sent to California to intimidate farmers into limiting their crop size to further increase demand, while at the same time forcing the farmers to sell their artichokes at decreased prices straight to the mafia.
Those who resisted were threatened with areal gas bombings and crop slashing, which proved to be a very effective intimidation tactics.
And by 1935, the Morello-Terranova mafia was in control of every artichoke that entered New York, making over $63 million in profit. The head of the family, Ciro Terranova, was known far and wide as the Artichoke King.
What happened next? Well, there was such an uproar about the lack of artichokes that mayor LaGuardia’s ban lasted only a week.
And because the whole affair made front-page news, the artichoke quickly became a trending vegetable far beyond just the Italian immigrant community, with newspapers and magazines across the country featuring recipes and plating suggestions.
As it turns out, you can’t keep hungry people from their artichokes!
Fill a bowl with water and squeeze a lemon into it; alternatively place the parsley stems into the water – this prevents the artichokes from oxidizing.
Cut off the artichokes’ stem and remove the external petals.
Slice the top off, removing most of the spines.
Remove the internal spines and the fluff attached to the heart.
Rinse each artichoke in the lemon/parsley stem water.
Mince the parsley leaves and place in a bowl with the crumbled taralli, Parmigiano, and 2 tbsp of Classico.
Combine all the ingredients, adding salt & pepper to taste.
Fill the the artichokes with the taralli mixture, placing them in a deep pot.
Top each artichoke with a garlic clove & drizzle of Classico.
Pour ½ an inch of water into the bottom of the pot, adding stock powder into the water.
Cover with a lid, cooking for 30-40 mins, adding more water if necessary. Once the artichokes are tender & the water reduced to a thicker sauce, perfecto!
Fill a large bowl with cold tap water and squeeze a lemon in it; or alternatively place the parsley stems (not the leaves) into the water – this prevents the raw artichokes from oxidizing as you clean them.
Strip down the artichokes by cutting off the stem and removing several layers of the external petals.
Slice the top off so that you remove most of the spines.
Remove the artichoke’s internal spines and the fluff attached to the heart.
Carefully open the petals up (without removing any) and place each artichoke into the lemon/parsley stem water, rinsing them thoroughly. Once the artichokes have been cleaned, prepare the filling.
Mince the parsley leaves and place them in a small bowl with the crumbled taralli, grated Parmigiano, and 2 tablespoons of Classico Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
Combine all the ingredients and add a pinch of salt and pepper to taste. Adjust with more parsley, taralli, Parmigiano, or olive oil to taste.
Ensuring that the artichokes are fully drained of water, fill them to the brim with the taralli mixture, placing them in a deep pot so that they fit snugly.
Top each artichoke with a small garlic clove and a drizzle of Classico Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
Pour ½ an inch of water into the bottom of the pot, adding the stock powder into the water.
Cover the pot with a lid and cook over a medium flame for 30 to 40 minutes, adding more water if necessary. Once the artichokes are tender and the water has reduced to a thicker sauce, perfecto!
