Stuffed Artichokes (with breadcrumbs)

4 qts.+ 1/2 C. water 1 whole lemon
1 lg. can tomato sauce (not spaghetti sauce)
1 C. olive oil
4 whole artichokes
2 C. Italian breadcrumbs
2 TB. parmesan cheese
1 clove garlic
1 medium onion

Preheat oven to 350F.  Bring the 4qts. of water to a boil.  Prepare the artichokes by washing them, then cutting off the stalk at the base, as well as the sharp points or “claws” at the tips of the leaves.  Rub all cut ends with a half of the lemon.  Boil the artichokes and the lemon halves for 10 minutes.  Meanwhile, combine the breadcrumbs, cheese, 1/2 C. water, 1/2 C. of oil, garlic, and onion (both finely chopped).  Remove the artichokes from the water and all them to sit until they are cool enough to handle.  At this point, open up the artichoke from the top down (sort of like a blooming rose) and, at this time, scoop out the fibrous heart of the artichoke.  Stuff each leaf with a small amount of the breadcrumb mixture as well as the cavity left by the removal of the artichoke heart.  Put a thin layer of the tomato sauce in the bottom of a baking dish.  Then place the artichokes in the dish, and spoon the rest of the breadcrumb mixture into the gaps left between the stuffed artichokes.  Spoon the remaining tomato sauce over all.  Drizzle lightly with olive oil, then cover and bake for 1 hour.

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This recipe is very nearly the definitive refutation to the idea that all Italians eat is variations on pasta with cheese and meat sauce.  I don't know what it is about good Italian food, but it is both cheap and easy to prepare and hard to find in a restaurant.  Yet artichokes, for example, remain the ingredient du jour.  Put "artichoke" in the name on the menu and it's like calling a purse a Hermes.  But go to a so-called "Italian" restaurant and your options are spaghetti with meat sauce, lasagna with meat sauce and, for variety, pasta alfredo.  In most metropolitan areas there are imitations and the real thing for a wide variety of national cuisines, and there are typically positive attributes to both.  I would be lying if I said Chinese take-out was not high on my list of comfort foods.  But at the same time, even little ol' Nashville has a restaurant or so that serves the real deal, as well as several other that provide other relatively authentic (as based on my observation of the clientele) asian national cuisines, such as Thai and Korean.  Yet for Italian food, I have not yet been to an American city (outside of the Northeast) that has anything other than low-priced Italian knock-offs and the same Italian knock-offs at a much higher price.  I don't know how the expensive restauranteurs get away with it.  For context, this is the same situation as if there were about 30 large, expensive, heavily-ambienced restaurants in town that served exclusively macaroni and cheese, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and canned chicken noodle soup.  With chocolate chip cookies for dessert.  There should seriously be a Jamie Oliver-style Italian food revolution.