‶Jewish-style artichokes″ is what the Romans call this most Roman of fried dishes. The vegetable—really the flower of a thistle—is transfigured by its dual bath in hot olive oil. The ‶Jewish″ part of the name is a tip-off that it’s a fried dish, as Jews introduced deep-frying to Italian cuisine during their confinement in the Roman ghetto in the 16th–19th centuries. The photo above shows a classic example from Da Teo (facebook.com/Trattoria.da.TEO/), a trattoría in the Trastevere neighborhood that recently reopened with social distancing. A few years back, we rented an apartment just down the street and ate there as often as we could. We almost always started with the artichokes as an appetizer.

What we didn’t appreciate at the time was that the giant artichokes grown in the Lazio region—called cimaroli—lack the thorns on the leaves and the hairy central choke. Hence, they are much easier to prepare and a perfect offering for a restaurant. The artichokes are first cut horizontally so they resemble a closed rosebud. Then they are immersed in oil heated to about 275°F for 10–15 minutes until the starchy center is cooked through. After the artichokes cool, the leaves are peeled back a little to ‶open″ the flower. When an order comes into the kitchen, the artichokes are finished in hot fat (375°F) for a few minutes to make them crisp and crunchy. With a nice overtone of olive oil and a sprinkling of salt, they’re nearly as addictive as potato chips.