Alcachofa.

I spent my night watching Halloween, drinking boxed wine and half assedly packing/making food for vacation. Have you ever noticed how dark Halloween is? I'm not talking the plot here, I mean that 75% of that movie is literally shot in dark houses without any lights on. By the end of the movie I had a headache from straining my eyes on my 40 inch tube TV (and surely not from the $10 box of wine).

Anyway. Artichokes were on sale for $.75 the other day at Winco. They're normally $3 A PIECE at Smith's, so after I picked my jaw up off the floor I purchased a handful of them. For dinner last night I steamed one and dipped the leaves in a garlic aioli and chipotle honey mustard sauce. The intention of this post was to share the recipes for the sauces but I just realized that I forgot the quantities, which are usually an important part of a recipe. So, instead you can look at these arty photos of my artichoke.

Penne with artichoke hearts and tomatoes in white wine sauce.

1 lb whole wheat penne pasta

1/4 C onion, minced

3 small cloves garlic, minced

1 C diced tomatoes

1/3 C white wine (plus more as needed)

8 artichoke hearts, quartered

1 T fresh parsley

salt and pepper to taste

In a large pan, saute onion in olive oil over medium heat until soft. Add garlic and cook another two minutes.

Add tomatoes, artichoke hearts, wine and salt and pepper and cook for 15-20 minutes, stirring and adding additional wine as necessary.

Meanwhile, cook penne in pot of boiling water (with a splash of olive oil) until al dente.

Add pasta to tomato and artichoke mix and heat together. Add parsley and serve.

This will make a shit ton of pasta and it will dry out as it sits in the fridge. When heating up the leftovers, just douse them in more wine (If you didn't drink the rest of the bottle, that is. If you did drink the rest of the bottle, this is an excuse to buy another).