Something Different for Purim: Queen Esther’s Artichoke Soup

I know, I know—it’s more than a month until Purim. But it’s never too early to start planning! Besides, I have a trove of off-the-beaten-track Purim recipes I want to share with you, and there’s no time like the present to get started. Named after Queen Esther, this unusual Italian Jewish artichoke soup takes advantage of the season’s bounty—the Italian artichoke season peaks around late February, just in time for Purim—while also giving a nod to Queen Esther’s legendary vegetarian diet while living in King Achashverosh’s palace.

If you know anything about Italian Jewish cuisine, it’s probably carciofi alla giudia, those delectable deep-fried artichokes beloved by Roman Jews. By far the best-known example of the cuisine, these bites of crispy goodness are just one of the many ways Italian Jews employed the world’s tastiest thistle.

The artichoke’s origins are uncertain, but it was most likely cultivated from the wild cardoon. This vegetable has been around at least since the time of the Talmud, whose rabbis asserted that the biblical kotz v’dardar (thorns and thistles) mentioned before Adam and Eve left Eden refer to cardoons and artichokes.

By the medieval era, the artichoke was highly esteemed throughout the eastern Mediterranean. The Moors brought it to Spain, where it became a popular Sephardic ingredient—perhaps as early as 800, and certainly by the eleventh century—and from there it gradually spread in popularity. The artichoke likely spread to Italy via Sicily when the island came under Spanish rule. Non-Jewish Italians disparaged it as a lowly Jewish vegetable in the Middle Ages, but the artichoke’s popularity spread during the Renaissance. Indeed, the artichoke became so trendy by the sixteenth century that Catherine de’ Medici popularized it in France following her marriage to Henry II.

Slightly adapted from Joyce Goldstein’s The New Mediterranean Jewish Table: Old World Recipes for the Modern Home, this simple artichoke soup has an unexpectedly rich flavor—don’t be deceived by the short ingredient list. It’s very easy to prepare if you opt for frozen artichoke hearts (which I find to be just as flavorful as fresh, for a fraction of the effort).

This artichoke soup is customarily prepared as a dairy dish, and using butter does up the richness, but it can easily be made parve by swapping the butter out for olive oil. Traditionally thickened with besciamella (bechamel), Goldstein’s version lightens up the dish by replacing this cream sauce with diced potato as a thickening agent, with surprisingly creamy results.

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Purim Artichoke Soup (Crema de Carciofi Ester)

Juice of 1 lemon

12 artichoke hearts, frozen or fresh, quartered

3 tablespoons unsalted butter or olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

12 ounces boiling potatoes, peeled and diced

3 cups vegetable broth, plus more for thinning as needed

Salt and black pepper

Fill large bowl with water and add lemon juice and quartered artichoke hearts. If using frozen artichoke hearts, let them thaw in the lemon water. If using fresh, drop each quarter into the bowl of lemon water as you finish trimming it.

Melt butter (or heat oil) in large saucepan over medium heat. Drain artichokes and add to pan. Sauté for 5 minutes. Add garlic and potatoes, and sauté 3 more minutes. Then and enough broth to just cover artichokes, about 1 ½ cups. Cover pan and simmer over medium heat until artichokes are very tender and almost falling apart, 25 to 30 minutes.

Remove from heat and let cool slightly. Puree with immersion blender; or transfer to food processor and puree until smooth before returning to saucepan. Add remaining 1 ½ cups broth. Reheat over low heat, adding more broth to thin if necessary. Season to taste with salt and pepper. The artichoke flavor intensifies as the soup sits, so it’s best made a few hours before serving.

Sources: The Book of Jewish Food (Claudia Roden); Encyclopedia of Jewish Food (Gil Marks, 2010); “In Season: Artichokes in Rome,” the New York Times (Katie Parla, March 5, 2010); Jewish Food: The World at Table (Matthew Goodman, 2005); The New Mediterranean Jewish Table: Old World Recipes for the Modern Home (Joyce Goldstein, 2016)

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