Chicken Vesuvio w Steamed Artichoke

About

This full Keto meal can be used for your meal prep but is most impressive when presented at the dinner table. If you’re looking for a sharable comfort food Keto recipe, this is it. Chicago-style Chicken Vesuvio is the Italian-American stew you never knew you needed. Skin-on chicken thighs are browned and then stewed down in a pan with flavorful broth, cauliflower, and edamame. Traditional Chicken Vesuvio is often made with potatoes and peas, but this Keto version offers healthier substitutions. Served alongside the stew is a whole artichoke steamed to perfection. The flowered artichoke is perfect for sharing, and you have the option to eat it in your favorite way. Serve the Chicken Vesuvio family-style or portion it into meal prep containers to store in your refrigerator. Heat it up for a hot lunch or dinner.

How To Steam Artichokes

If you’ve never steamed an artichoke before or you don’t own a steaming basket, there are a couple of other ways to get the job done. You can create steam in an oven by baking a wide dish filled with 1-inch of water at 200 degrees Fahrenheit, then cooking the artichoke on the rack above the dish until it’s tender. You can also create this effect in a microwave by filling a heat-safe dish with shallow water and placing it next to your prepared artichoke on a plate with a microwave cover on top. Microwave until steamed. For both techniques, make sure to replenish the water for steaming as it evaporates.

Ways To Eat Artichoke

There are multiple ways to enjoy eating steamed artichokes. The classic way is to sprinkle salt and pepper over the flowered artichoke, then dipping the leaves in warm, clarified butter as you scrape the artichoke with your teeth. Other Keto options are to season the artichoke at your discretion. You can also drizzle some balsamic vinaigrette or a Keto-friendly Italian vinaigrette over the leaves. Choose you favorite herbs, marinate them in olive oil, and dip the artichoke leave in the warm oil just like you would bread at a restaurant!

Ingredients

1 artichoke, medium artichokes raw
1 lb chicken broilers or fryers thigh meat and skin raw
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon olive or extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoon butter, unsalted
8 oz cauliflower, raw
½ teaspoon oregano, dried
¼ teaspoon thyme, dried
¼ tsp, chopped garlic
½ teaspoon white wine vinegar
1 cup chicken broth
4 oz edamame
1 tablespoon butter, unsalted

Instructions

Set the artichoke up first by cutting the stem to a short length and slice ½”-1” off the top of the globe. Steam the artichoke, stem facing up, in your preferred style, until the artichoke turns a pale green and is soft enough to pierce with a fork into the center of the globe. If using a steaming basket set over a pot of water, as used in the original recipe here, it will take up to 45 minutes to steam. Alternative ways to steam an artichoke are recommended in the introduction at the top of the recipe.
Once the artichoke is steamed, allow it to cool on a clean surface for 5 minutes before serving it with the Chicken Vesuvio. Gently open the artichoke globe like a flower. The leaves should easily pull off the globe and be scraped clean with your teeth. Ways to serve the artichoke are also mentioned in the recipe introduction as well. In this recipe, the artichoke is seen served with a salt and pepper seasoning, which is not included in the ingredients. While the artichoke is steaming, you’ll be making the Chicken Vesuvio.
Leave chicken thighs intact with their skin and bones, and season them just over the tops with salt and pepper. Heat the olive oil in a saute pan or another pan suitable for stewing foods over high heat. When the oil is hot, place the chicken thighs in with the skin facing down. Fry the chicken on one side (use a splatter screen if necessary) until the skin just turns golden brown. Flip the chicken over and brown on the other side, reducing the heat if necessary to avoid burning the oil.
Transfer the browned chicken to a plate to leave aside for later in the recipe. Leave the pan on the stove and reduce your heat to low. Melt the butter in the pan and deglaze any cooked spices stuck to the bottom. Then, add cauliflower florets in a variety of chunky sizes to the hot butter. Season the whole pan with oregano, thyme, and minced garlic. Stir and cook the cauliflower until it fries to light golden in the butter, turning up your heat as needed.
Once the cauliflower is browned, pour white wine vinegar into the pan followed by the chicken broth. Cover the pan with a lid and bring the broth to a full simmer. Once it’s simmering, return the whole chicken thighs to the pan, nestling them in the broth. Leave the lid on the pan, and allow the chicken and cauliflower to stew together over low heat until the chicken can easily pull off the bones with a fork. If you turn your heat too high, you’ll overcook the cauliflower and it may turn mushy. This can take up to 30 minutes or longer.
Once the chicken is tender enough, pull it apart into chunky pieces. You may choose to leave the bones to continue stewing in the pan and then discard at the end of cooking, or you may discard them now. Reduce the heat to the lowest setting, and stir shelled edamame and the final amount of butter into the pan. Once the butter is melted, leave the pan uncovered and bubbling until a light sauce thickens in the bottom of the pan. You may see a small amount of caramelization in the pan too. Serve about 6 ounces (by weight) of Chicken Vesuvio for every ¼ of artichoke.