Don't let the artichokes intimidate you

Artichokes may look intimidating at the market.  All prickly and big and confusing, right?  How on earth do I cook this thing?  Well, let me tell you.

Steam it.  Peel it.  Dip it.  Eat it.

Repeat.

Artichokes are so super easy, delicious, and nutritious.  They are a fun way to get people together for dinner and surprisingly low in calories but high in flavor, nutrients, and filling-ness.

A simple how to:

Pick artichokes that are uniform in green color, leaves are tightly pulled in, and are heavy for their size. Rinse the artichoke and very carefully cut off the top inch or two.  Then, using kitchen shears, cut each leaf/petal to remove the prickly thorn.  The end result will look like this (don't be jealous of my enormously enormous artichoke here):

I like to squeeze lemon juice over the top of the artichoke and slice fresh garlic to press in between the petals before steaming.  Then, using a steamer, place the artichoke stem side up in the steamer to cook for 25-30 minutes or so, or until the bottom can be easily pierced with a fork.  The artichoke will turn a slightly brownish/duller green color and the petals will easily come off when pulled.

There are many different sauces you can make to dip your petals in. Lemon butter, peppercorn ranch, garlic mayo, etc.  I have tried two different ones recently and think I found my new favorite.  The one pictured above is not that favorite one, unfortunately.  Above is a mixture of Amande almond yogurt  (which I really like), creole mustard, minced garlic, lemon juice, cayenne, salt, and pepper.  It wasn't bad, but it wasn't wow-knock-my-socks-off good, either.

The one I tried the next night was a balsamic vinaigrette which was much tastier.  3 tbsp good balsamic vinegar, 1 tbsp dijon mustard, splash of olive oil (could be omitted), 1 clove minced garlic, fresh squeezed lemon juice, coarse salt, and pepper.  Super delicious and low fat and low cal, which is a bonus.  (modified from this recipe).

Once you scrape away all the "meat" from the petals, you are left with the ugly choke.  Scoop it out so you can get on to the good stuff!

Artichoke heart with the prickly, hairy choke.

Scoop all that middle stuff out until you are left with the tender heart.

All scooped out and ready to be devoured.

Nom, nom, nom.  Slice that up into bite sized pieces and dip in your sauce and enjoy!