Artichoke Ragoût with Olives

A toothsome Mediterranean ragoût, messy but nice, as is the way of artichoke dishes. Copine and culinary confidante Barbara Spiegel, who devised this, observes that “even if some of the little artichokes have a bit of fluff inside, there is no need to clean them out beforehand. Nor is there a need to remove orange peel, parsley, thyme sprigs, garlic, and bay leaves from this rustic sort of dish.” She serves it as a first course, in shallow bowls, with fork and knife to handle thè jui