When it comes to cooking in the oven, we always feel relieved, since it is much healthier than using the pan, we do not dirty the kitchen as much and it allows us to perform other tasks in the background such as making calls, checking the mail, hanging clothes or even do some sport at home. These gratin artichokes are a healthy version of the classic recipe, and we can also turn it into a vegan recipe.
Artichokes, a priori, do not look very delicious, since it is a fruit hidden behind its leaves, as happens to pineapple, both the fruit and the one that gives the pine nuts. All the foods that are hidden behind such an impenetrable shell sometimes cause us rejection.
However, artichokes are very healthy, delicious and tasty, as long as we know how to get the most out of them. We are going to modernize a recipe as simple as the baked artichokes au gratinIn addition, we are going to give a vegan version, since we only have to change one ingredient.
In this text we are going to know why artichokes are so necessary for the body, how to turn this recipe into a meal suitable for vegans and strict vegetarians, and how to preserve everything that we know. Before waiting for food to come, we are in favor of calculating well how many people are going to eat, and based on that, make the recipe, so that we will only have to divide or multiply the quantities that we indicate below.
Why are artichokes so important?
Artichokes are really nutritious, although we know that at first their appearance may be a little behind, but when we try them with our recipe, we will change our minds. Also, once again, this recipe meets our pillars. It is a healthy recipe, low in fat, with 100% natural, cheap and easy-to-find ingredients.
We will have this simple recipe ready in less than 30 minutes and it only has 121 kilocalories, 6 grams of fat, 3 grams of saturated fat, about 10 grams of sugar and less than 1 gram of salt.
The amounts vary depending on the type of cheese we use and if we add other extra ingredients. There are those who put hake, avocado, Bacon, ham, and even salmon. That's where everyone's taste comes in. Sometimes we have put seed bread as a plate with the artichoke gratin on top and it is a perfect cover to poicate before lunch.
The importance of artichokes comes because this vegetable is very rich in vitamins and minerals. Specifically has vitamin A, B6, C and E, and the minerals are calcium, iron, iodine, magnesium, zinc, sodium, potassium, phosphorus and selenium.
100 grams of artichokes provide 44 kilocalories, 2,3 grams of protein, 0,1 grams of fat, 7,5 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fiber, no cholesterol, and almost 90% is water.
This is how you can make vegan artichokes gratin
If we go down to the bottom we will see that there is no béchamel in this recipe, since we wanted to simplify the recipe as much as possible so that it is low in fat and healthier. A non-vegan person can use whatever cheese they want, from a cured cut into very thin slices, to a package of 4 grated cheeses, squares of gouda cheese, emmental, and even soft cheeses.
But of course, in the case of being vegan, we cannot use cheese of animal origin, since this diet excludes all foods that are of animal origin, including milk, eggs and even honey.
That is why, in this case, a vegetable cheese will be used and preferably it is suitable for melting or gratin. should use a quality vegan cheese and very tasty, so that it contributes to the recipe, otherwise, a crunchy paste will remain on top of the artichokes.
Be careful with this type of cheese, since sometimes it takes much longer to gratin than conventional cheese made with cow's milk or another animal. Do not think that by giving more power to the oven it will be gratin sooner, but rather that we will spoil the entire recipe and the cheese will burn.
Tips to improve the recipe
The most important thing is that the artichokes are large and of very good quality. We must also strictly adhere to the fact of using a lemon, and here each one decides whether to fry the lemon for the artichokes or pour the juice into the boiling broth. We have sometimes done both.
The same goes for butter and cheese. Both are essential ingredients, especially cheese, since the butter just adds juiciness and moisture to the gratin. The cheese must be of intense flavor and of very good quality, therefore, both in cheese and in butter, the main ingredient must be milk and it must be a special cheese for gratin.
If we use margarine, we must make sure that it is made from olive oil, instead of sunflower or refined oils. In any case, at least, it should be sunflower oil, but high oleic.
So that they taste better and look better when we go to eat them, it is best to take them out of the fridge about 20 minutes before and then heat them in the microwave or take advantage of the heat in the oven, in case we are using it for something.
How to keep the recipe
The recipe that we explain below is focused on 4 people. If we see that it is a lot of food, we can do half of it, and thus we reduce food waste.
What about if it was good and we want to keep it for the next day, what we have to do is wait for it to cool down and deposit the artichokes gratin that have been left over inside a glass tupperware with hermetic closure.
Nothing to add sauces, or lemon juice to talk, or add more cheese, or anything. Only the artichokes gratin and we close the lid with hermetic closure. This food will keep in good condition for at least 3 days, but we recommend storing it at the bottom of the fridge and not constantly opening the tupperware.
To avoid contaminating food, we recommend handling it with clean utensils and not eating directly from the tupperware unless we are going to eat it all in one sitting.
