Duarte’s Famous Cream of Artichoke Soup

June 6, 2009.   2 Comments.   Categories Restaurant Recipes, Soups, Vegetarian.  

Duarte’s Famous Artichoke Soup

“It mighta’ choked Arti but it ain’t gonna choke me” -Buckwheat

When I was a child, my parents decided to venture into the business of growing and selling Christmas trees.  They opened the San Gregorio Christmas Tree Farm in the early 1970’s.  For many years, hundreds of people would come from the San Francisco Bay Area to visit our farm.  It was a nice way to grow up… watching kids and their parents wander through nearly 60 acres of Monterey Pine and Douglas Fir seeking the perfect tree to cut down and take home with them.  San Gregorio is a very small hamlet just south of Half Moon Bay.  The coastline is dotted with small communities that seem to be stuck in a time warp.  Many of the hard working cattle ranching families have lived in this area for generations and helped to shape the history rich coast.

Just down the highway from San Gregorio is the town of Pescadero.  In addition to its beautiful scenery, Pescadero is known for a small restaurant called Duarte’s Tavern.  The Duartes were Portuguese immigrants and in 1894 they settled in Pescadero and paid $12.00 in gold for what is now Duarte’s Tavern.  The family has been running it using the same recipes and fresh coastal ingredients ever since.

www.duartestavern.com

When I was a child, I had the pleasure of going to Duarte’s many times for their very famous artichoke soup, crab Cioppino followed by olallieberry pie.   Emma Duarte or “Grandma” as everyone called her, would always make me feel so special when she fussed over me during our regular visits.  She was such an institution to this wonderfully interesting part of California, I feel very priviledged that I was able to know her.

Photo of Emma Duarte’s Olallieberry Pie

When I started looking for their soup recipes, I found numerous versions on the internet.  So, I called Duarte’s with what I felt were the closest recipes and they walked me through the process.  Since they have been making this for generations, the recipe isn’t a scientific formula but requires an instinct and “a little of this and a little of that”  In fact, Emma never wrote down any of her recipes but rather passed them down to each generation through lots of practice in the kitchen.  I can’t promise this is exact.. but it will be good and very close.

Tips:

Using only fresh artichokes (never canned) clean them well and remove all fuzz. Trim the green off around the bottom. As soon as you finish cleaning each one, drop it in water with lemon in it.  When you have enough, cook them in hot olive oil al dente. Add a little salt and pepper when you begin cooking. Drain.

It’s very important to sautee the artichokes in olive oil to preserve it’s color and flavor.  Don’t completely cook, just until they are Al Dente.  Over cooking can make the artichokes gray and mushy in your soup.

Place the artichokes in a blender or food processor with Organic (or homemade stock) chicken broth.  Add garlic and saute’ in olive oil for just a minute or two.  Thicken with cream  and corn starch (mix those two first than add to thicken).  Add a some butter…at least 1/4 stick.  .

Don’t let the soup get too light or white in color.  Try to keep it green.  The result is a bright beautiful light jade green soup with darker green flecks in it.

Approximate proportions and steps:

1. About one cup of chunks of fresh artichoke hearts (maybe four large/jumbo sized bottoms)
2. Lemon in water (used in preparation to keep them from turning brown)
3. Three tablespoons good quality, fresh extra virgin olive oil
4. Cook al dente, maybe ten to fifteen minutes, add a smashed garlic for the last two minutes
5. Save out one quarter to one half of an artichoke bottom to use as garnish
6. Add one cup chicken broth to artichokes and garlic
7. Blend
8. Mix one tablespoon of cornstarch with one cup of milk or half and half; add more cornstarch if you like thicker soup or cream if you like richer soup
9. Put the contents of the blender and the milk/cornstarch mixture in a large saucepan
10. Stir over low heat, constantly scraping the bottom, until it boils
11. Boil one minute, remove from heat
12. Swirl in one or more tablespoons of butter
13. Adjust salt, do not add more chicken broth as it will cover the lovely vegetable flavor
14. Grind some pepper over it, garnish with reserved diced fried artichoke