Artichoke!

Have you ever eaten an artichoke?

I have. It was covered in parmesan cheese, cream, and spinach on top of fried delicious chips.

I only ate the artichoke because it was on the chips.

I like chips more than artichokes I think.

I digress. I decided to make one! a real one. a real artichoke from the produce stand, not the frozen dip section of the grocery store.

First you snip all the little pointy ends of the leaves off. I used kitchen scissors. It doesn't take as long as you'd think.

Then you chop off the top with a very sharp knife. This was harder than I expected, the artichoke is tough and doesn't seem to want to be cooked. Slice off most of the stem too.

Then I filled a pot with an inch or two of water, a lemon slice and a bay leaf. I put my steamer basket on top.

You steam the chokes, as I've affectionally started calling them, for 20-30 minutes depending on how big they are.

Then, using some tongs and not your fingers, you pull them out of the pot and they're ready to go.

To eat them you pluck out a leaf, think "He loves me, He loves me not" and flip it upside down. You put the meaty part of the leaf that was close to the base of the choke and slide it though your teeth, taking the vegetable part into your mouth. It's a lot of work for a tiny little bit of vegetable but it's good. It's mild and earthy.

People often make dips for their chokes. I put about 2tsp lemon juice in a bowl with probably 1-2tbsp extra virgin olive oil and whisked it up with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. It was yummy on the chokes but I had a ton leftover that ended up down the drain. I read online that a lot of people make mayonnaise based dressings for artichokes but I really don't like mayonnaise. If anyone has a dressing that is yummy I could try something new though.

Happy Eating!