Artichoke Entered Zadar Through the Big Gates and Has Remained Here Until Today

From the Ancient Roman Tables to the Liburnian Zadar

Artichoke, which is only presumed to be of Egyptian origin, and which is known to thrive only in warm regions with a temperate climate such as the Mediterranean and Dalmatia, was taken over from Greek gastronomy and popularised by the ancient Romans at the time of its greatest power. It was used in salads and sauces, and it is believed that there is a dish from that time that is still very popular in Zadar, a dish that is one of the common places of local gastronomic heritage - artichokes cooked with peas, broad beans and new potatoes.

We can only imagine how the first artichoke seeds or seedlings arrived in Liburnian Zadar from Rome. They probably arrived through a monumental gate, the main entrance to the city of the time, the most important on this side of the Adriatic, along with other innovations that were trendily spreading from the imperial metropolis. This colossal gate was located in today's Petar Zoranić Square, in the south-eastern part of the old Zadar core, the peninsula. Archaeologists have discovered other historical layers from later periods in the same area, some parts of the architecture have been reconstructed since before Christ, and Roman and Medieval archaeological finds can be seen under the glass fragments of the Square. 

Petar Zoranić Square in Zadar. Photo credit: Marin Pitton

Together with the neighbouring Five Wells Square, which was built in the 16th century as the most important city reservoir of that time, then the Captain's Tower from the 13th century, the only remaining tower in the system of defensive walls that protected Zadar a couple of centuries later from the Turkish invasion, and Queen Jelena Madije Park, the first public park in Zadar built in the early 19th century, the Petar Zoranić Square was enclosed into the historically most important part of Zadar. Two thousand years roared through this space, during which different civilizations, the population of the city, habits and customs, historical opportunities and troubles interchanged…

Five Wells Square in Zadar. Photo credit: Stipe Surać

At the very Petar Zoranić Square there are two restaurants that regularly include artichoke dishes on their menus in the spring. In both restaurants the remains of the magnificent main city gate from the time of Ancient Rome are still visible, because they are located in buildings which were built on its wide walls.

Traditionally Prepared Artichokes at the “Skoblar” Tavern (Konoba) 

At the well-known and favourite place of all Zadar citizens, “Skoblar” Konoba, artichokes are prepared in the ancient Roman way - with broad beans and peas. Traditional way of preparing food is, of course, characteristic of this tavern’s cuisine. How could it not: this famous Zadar family’s catering business was initiated by Ante Skoblar, who started catering as early as 1946, and in 1966 he opened his own restaurant on the site of today's konoba. The business was later continued by Ante's son, Bruno, a famous Croatian footballer, at a time when his brother Josip, Ante's older son, was gaining football fame in France in Oliympique de Marseille. During the 1970/1971 season, Josip won the Golden Shoe award for the best scorer in Europe, and his record of 44 goals in one league season in France has not been broken by anyone to date. That is why today's konoba “Skoblar” was long called “Zlatna kopačka” (Golden Shoe).

Traditional dishes, which were prepared a long time ago by the father of the famous football players, have remained in today's offer, too. Artichokes were prepared for us by the experienced chef Frane Grdović as follows: first he cut off the buds’ prickly leaf tips, and removed the hard outer small petals. He then made a mixture of chopped garlic, parsley, bread crumbs, salt and pepper, which he stuffed between the gently spread artichoke petals.

In fact, this is the most difficult part of the preparation, if there is such thing in this dish. Then, the olive oil is poured into the bottom of the cold pot, a mixture of young peas, broad beans and diced potatoes is arranged, and then the stuffed artichokes are arranged on top sitting upright. The gaps between them are filled with peas and beans and everything is then filled with cold water, which should never reach higher than the artichokes. Finally, everything was let to simmer without stirring for about 1.5 hours or less. This dish is served without extra side dishes and is ideal for a late breakfast (marenda) or quick early lunch, fashionably called brunch.

Artichokes prepared this way are a vegetarian dream dish, adored by meat lovers as well. The vegetarian magic is lost when pieces of bacon are added to the stuffing, which is also customary, and so is cooking artichokes with young lamb in a similar way to this vegetarian variant.

In any variation of this dish, artichoke is the main star - just when you eat or suck delicious, bitter-sweet petals you reach a supple, even tastier “heart” of this unique bud, tender like the unfortunate virgin Cynara.

On a Base of Various Lentils and Even - Grass Pea (Sikirica)

On the other side of Petar Zoranić Square, less than a hundred metres from the “Skoblar” Konoba, there is the “Pet Bunara” Restaurant (“Five Wells” Restaurant).

This place also has a long tradition, it was opened in 1981 by Dragutin Babac, first as a café, and later as a pizzeria. Six or seven years ago, Dragutin's son Vladimir, a chef and economist, took over the business and transformed it into a restaurant with a rustic ambience with dishes inspired by the rich gastronomic tradition of this area, but always prepared in a slightly different way. Vladimir explained to us that the most important thing is that the ingredients are fresh and of good quality, and that the original tastes must be preserved in their preparation, which means that they should not be cooked or baked for too long. When compiling the menu that is constantly changing, Vladimir only sticks to seasonal foods.

During artichoke season, a dozen dishes are prepared at “Pet Bunara” in which this bud is the main star, and the chef Šime Škrokov presented us with two: Dalmatian lentils with artichoke and fine tagliatelle in veal sauce with demiglace and artichoke.

There is no long-time cooking in both of these cases. The artichoke is only briefly blanched, salted and bathed in olive oil. In the first, real vegan dish, chef Šime boiled lentils - exclusive grass pea (sikirica), peas, broad beans, corn, wheat and barley, and to soften them, he fried them briefly in garlic-flavoured olive oil. All done! A colourful and cheerful dish, with the same taste could be served. It would have probably cheered angry Zeus up after his failed attempt at Cynara...

The second dish, restaurant’s homemade tagliatelle with the excellent demiglace veal sauce, would be just one of the classics of this restaurant if it did not contain soft slices of cooked and spiced artichoke. This way, our chef has improved the dish three wooden spoons further and made it a more interesting and unusual gourmet delight.

And the unfortunate Cynara? She is still hiding in some green long-leaved bush and is waiting for someone to pick her before she blooms. It might easily be in one of many Zadar gardens…