I remember the day I had my first artichoke. I was 16 and at my boyfriend's (future hubby's) house and he cooked steaks, mashed potatoes and artichokes. I'm not gonna lie, I was nervous! If your not familiar with an artichoke they can be very intimidating. After spending a few minutes teasing me he showed me how to eat an artichoke. I quickly decided it was one of my favorite things to eat, super yummy and fun to eat! I have spent the last 10 years eating artichokes every chance I get and I have made them all kinds of different ways.
Since it took me 16 years to discover an artichoke I figured not everyone knows about how great they are, or you too are slightly intimidated by them! This is why restaurants are able to charge $18 or more for a grilled artichoke! CRAZY! So, I have put together a little instruction guide on how to do artichokes at home. There are a bunch of different ways to cook them, but this is my recent favorite.
What you need:
2 artichokes, the more closed the artichoke the better
2 lemons3 garlic cloves
2 bay leaves
Salt
Pepper
Olive Oil
This is what they look like
First you need to cut off about 1 1/2 inches from the top (depending on the size of your artichoke), you want to get rid of most of the thorns. Then cut the end of the stem, and use a potato peeler to peal the outside layer off of the stem. Then pick off any artichoke leaves on stem, and I normally take the outer most leaves off as well. Then you can use scissors to trim any leaves that still have their thorns.
They will look like this:
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Now its time to boil them! You need a big pot of salted water. Use the potato peeler to peel the zest off of your lemons, add zest as well as lemon juice to water. Also add the whole garlic cloves and bay leaves. They will need to boil for about 25 minutes. You will know its done when you can take off a leaf and eat it by using your top teeth to scrape off the "meat" from bottom of the inside of the leaf. Test a leaf and allow to boil longer if needed.
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| This is what they will look like boiling (the water is cloudy because of the lemon juice) |
When they are done boiling they are ready to eat! Because you boiled them in such well seasoned and yummy water the artichokes are great to eat on their own, or dipped in your favorite sauce (see below for a new favorite of mine!) If you want to take them to the next level keep reading for how to make grilled artichokes!
So, now that your artichokes have been boiled and you have pulled them out of the water, slice them in half. Use a spoon to carve out the "choke" and the itty bitty thorny leaves in the center.
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| The one on the right is what it looks like sliced in half, the left has the choke and leaves removed. |
Now brush both sides with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper!
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| Size of basil, zest and shallots for sauce |
For Lemon Basil Aioli dipping sauce:
4 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 shallot diced super fine
Finely grated zest from 1/2 lemon
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
3 tablespoons chopped basil
Salt & Pepper to taste
Place the shallots, lemon zest, juice, vinegar and salt into bowl and let sit for about 3 minutes (or longer). Then add in the mayonnaise and basil stirring it all together. Taste and add salt and pepper as necessary.
Now you are ready to eat!! I know it seems like a lot of instructions and a lot of work. It isn't, I promise!! These are so yummy and make a great presentation as well!
And now just for fun...here are some pictures of Connor (my now 4 1/2 year old) enjoying his first artichoke at 7 months! I was determined not to let him live 16 years without one like his mama!!
