Stuffed Artichokes - 2

Recipe Instructions Clean artichokes under cold running water. Cut off stems, trim pointed leaves, cut tops level, remove coarse outer leaves. Rub leaves with lemon. Open center of artichokes by spreading leaves so that you have a cavity to fill. Unless the artichokes are very young, remove the hairy part with a spoon. Fry sausage meat in 2 tablespoons olive oil and mix with hard-boiled eggs. Season with salt and pepper and fill artichokes. Tie tops with string. In the oil in which the sausage fried, brown the sliced onion. Fry tomato until it becomes a paste. Pour in 1 cup water and cook over moderate fire 7 to 8 minutes. Pass tomato-onion sauce through a sieve, forcing it with mortar pestle or back of wooden spoon. Return strained liquid to fire. Dip artichokes in beaten egg, then in flour, and fry in 3 tablespoons olive oil heated to smoking point. Fry tops first to secure stuffing, then turn frequently until well browned all over. While artichokes brown, pound garlic and almonds in mortar and add to sauce. If any filling is left over, add it to sauce too. Pour a little water in sauce when it thickens after the addition of almonds. When artichokes are browned, stand them in the sauce in an ovenproof casserole in which they fit so tightly they cannot fall apart. (This much can be done in advance.) Cook artichokes slowly on top of stove until tender (about 1 1/2 hours). Add water to sauce in small amounts if sauce becomes too thick.