Artichoke Squares

It’s our annual pilgrimage south to visit my big sister who lives in Miami.  While the weekend is always a blast, it’s definitely wrought with emotion as well.  In the mornings we wake to take long walks so we can catch up on our fast-paced lives and safely reminisce about our mom and the huge gaping hole she’s left in both of our lives since she died, over 5 years ago.  It’s certainly nice, albeit sad, to have someone who can completely  understand not having their mom, our mom.  Actually, there’s no one else in the world who can understand me and my situation as much as my sister.

Since I’ve started spending a lot more time in the kitchen, it’s become tradition for my sister and I to cook together over this weekend holiday.  We’re focused on creating a home-cooked meal, made with love and devotion– the way mom used to cook.  We found a recipe of Mom’s for Artichoke Squares that looked easy and delicious.  I was particularly excited because I don’t think I’ve ever cooked a recipe with artichokes. Of  course, we also had to pay our respects by baking Mom’s most celebrated meal, Garlic Chicken for the main course.

Like so many of Mom’s mad scientist recipes, her Artichoke Squares recipe was written on a random sheet of old accounting paper and about 1/3 of the instructions were missing.

Lucky for me I’m more comfortable in the kitchen and can fill in the holes with much more ease and confidence these days.  Her instructions are mere fragments, seemingly written in code for other skilled chefs to decipher.

The prep for this dish is very easy.  And, the finished product tasted amazing, almost like an artichoke egg quiche.  IN addition to adding an additional 10 minutes to Mom’s cook time, next time around, I would definitely sprinkle breadcrumbs over top the mixture before baking.  Otherwise, this recipe is near flawless and the Artichoke Squares are a perfect addition to any breakfast, brunch or as an appetizer before dinner.

Enjoy.