Marilyn’s Blog

The Artichoke Blog and Glen Valley Artichoke Farm

Glen Valley Artichoke Farms

Glen Valley Artichoke Farms was established by John and Donna Plough as a family-run agricultural business. We have a 20-acre plot located 15 minutes east of Fort Langley in the Fraser Valley.

The primary crop is artichokes. We start 35,000 artichoke plants each year in the greenhouse and plant them out in the field in the spring. Each plant can bear about five artichokes. Another specialty crop is gourds, which are dried and sold for folk art projects.

We started the farm about 10 years ago and do most of the work ourselves to this day, with help from our four, now grown-up, children and anyone else we can rope in!

When in season, you can also enjoy our products as part of the menus of many restaurants in Vancouver and the Fraser Valley, including C Restaurant, the Rocky Mountain Flatbread CompanyWest Restaurant and Raincity Grill.

 

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Artichokes in the Ghetto

Carciofi alla Giudea / Artichokes Jewish Style

Alla Giudea

Carciofi alla Giudea rolls off  the tongue a lot easier that Artichokes Jewish Style so I will refer to them by that name in this post.

Now if I had to name my all time favourite artichoke dish, this one would have to be in the top two or three to choose from. Even though I don’t have children, I reckon they’d be a hit with the kids. The leaves become golden and crunchy and are fun to eat, kind of like eating potato crisps. You can work your way around the crispy leaves of the artichoke until you reach the soft tender heart. I don’t know anyone who hasn’t loved these artichokes. They are absolutely unique and instil excitement and curiosity into the eating experience, (or maybe that’s just me).

Continue Reading…

When In Rome, Eat Artichokes

December 30th, 2009

We start in Rome.

allaromana3

When in Roma, eat artichokes alla Romana or alla Giudea. You wont regret it.

Alice and I had a Chrismas holiday together with Alice’s brother, Chris. He’d never been to Italy before so we showed him around Rome, Florence, Venice, Milan and Turin. I never get tired of going back to these places. There is always more to explore and discover, especially on a culinary level.

For our first lunch we were directed to Da Tonino, (Via del governo vecchio, 18, 00186 – Roma (RM) Italia Cell.333 5870779 )MAP
A hole in the wall kind of establishment which served good, honest and generous portions of flavoursome  food. In some respects, this first lunch of my holiday was the most memorable, even more than our Christmas lunch. I have simple tastes and I’m a total sucker for food without pretense. I do appreciate talented chefs experimenting with new fusion of flavours  and skillfully presenting dishes, but the simple, the rustic, the humble and the down to earth gets me much more excited.