Barigoule is originally a mixture of mushrooms stuffed with bacon, shallots and carrots. There are different ways of spelling it, depending on the era and region of Provence(bérigoule, barigoula, barigoulo, brigoule, bourigoule or baligoule).
Our recipe here is much simpler.
Serves 4:
16 small Nice purple artichokes
4 large Niçoise cebettes (or fresh spring onions)
4 thick slices of bacon with rind
Flower thyme or dry thyme
Olive oil
Garlic pods
After cleaning the artichokes, cut them off 3 cm from the bottom and trim the stem.
Chop the spring onions into 1 cm pieces.
Chop the garlic finely or use dry garlic semolina.
Cut the bacon into centimetre-long rectangles
Heat theolive oil in the bottom of a cast-iron casserole dish.
Brown the cebettes and garlic without burning them.
Add the bacon and cook for around ten minutes over low/medium heat, covering and stirring from time to time.
Arrange the artichokes head up in the bottom of the casserole, side by side.
Sprinkle with aromatic herbs, a bay leaf, cracked peppercorns and a few fennel seeds.
Cover with water up to 1 cm from the top of the artichokes, add a good piece of butter and simmer over a low heat for 45 minutes.
Monitor and top up with water and butter.
Serve hot, a delight.
