Artichoke recipes

[fairfarmhand]

Fresh Artichokes were on sale today and I impulsively bought one. But I’ve never prepared one before. Tell me what to do with this weird looking thing!

[cjzimmer1]

I did that last year.  I ended up steaming it in my instant pot and dipping it in butter afterward.  I just googled some recipes so I can't tell you a specific one.  But it was fun to try it once and expose my kids to something new.

[Carol in Cal.]

I eat these all the time.

Rinse thoroughly, running the water into the leaves and shaking it out.

Then cut off the stem flush with the bottom.

Immerse in water in a heavy pot (it will float but you want lots of water.)  Simmer for about 35-60 minutes, depending on size.  How you know it's done is if you tug on one of the small bottom outer leaves it comes right off.  Drain upside down in a strainer.  Plop onto a plate.  Eat by pulling the leaves off one by one, dipping each in mayo (Best Foods/Hellmans is best for this), and pulling the flesh off of the leaf with your teeth--you have to kind of draw your teeth along the bottom half of the leaf instead of biting it for the outer half or so of the veggie, since there are a lot of fibers in the leaves.  After doing this for a while, you get to the point where the remaining leaves are kind of lighter green and soft all the way up.  At that point you gently pull the top off the heart.  Scrape out the choke (inside leaves) and you're left with kind of a teepee shape.  You eat this like a burrito, just the bottom 2/3 or so, again with mayo, but biting into the whole clump of leaves at once.  Then the best part--you scrape the thorny part of the choke off of the heart with a dinner knife, and eat the heart, again with mayo.

It sounds like a lot of work but dang is it good, and once you're used to it it goes really fast.  

 

[Selkie]

You can roast artichokes, too.

https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/amazing-roasted-artichokes/

[livetoread]

I do the steaming and eating each leaf thing, but I prefer lemon butter sauce to mayo. They are a hit in our family.

[sassenach]

Artichokes are a weekly thing in our house when they're in season (this might be a California thing). If you have an instant pot, that's the absolute best way to cook them. About 10 minutes (12 if it's really big). My family loves to dip in butter but I prefer garlic aioli (mayo, garlic, squeeze of lemon). The heart is the grand finale and I would recommend Youtubing how to eat it because you're going to need to scoop out the middle part, not a big deal, but best to just see it done.

Next level artichoke experience is to steam them, then cut them in half and put in a balsamic marinade. The next day, throw those babies on the grill and heat through. It's a real crowd pleaser.