Ate my first artichoke

[razz]

I have been reading and hearing about artichokes for years so when I saw one in my favourite grocery store I bought it, googled how to cook and ate it last night with DGS. What a let-down! What do you like about artichokes?

[awakenedsoul]

Oh, that's too bad. I love artichokes and asparagus. I love the flavor, taste, texture, and structure of an artichoke. I grew up in CA, so we get them fresh. I have a plant in my cottage garden. I slice them in half, place them in a pan cut side up, and cover them with Italian salad dressing and lemon juice. I cover the pan with foil, and bake them at 350 until the hearts are soft.

I also boil them whole in a large pot. (Usually six at a time.) I add a lot of Italian salad dressing, lemon juice, and put the quartered lemons in the water, too. I simmer them until the hearts are tender. We dip ours in mayo.

[cindycindy]

I've been eating artichokes all my life. I love the "heart". My Italian grandmother used to stuff them with breadcrumbs, grated cheese and herbs and bake them. I love them stuffed, boiled & plain...anyway. I forget the Italian name for the "stem" part, but that was a favorite part for my grandmother. I acquired a taste for that part as I got older. Maybe you should try them stuffed?

[cdttmm]

Aaaahhh, the humble artichoke. A labor intensive meal to eat if there ever was one! But the heart of an artichoke is so delicious it's totally worth it, IMO. I've eaten them in the various ways already mentioned and have never met a preparation I don't like. But New England is not known for growing artichokes, so I usually just resort to eating canned artichoke hearts as a pizza topping. :D

[iris lilies]

I'd love to have a freshly picked one.

razz, I usually cook a couple of artichokes each year by boiling them. Then I eat hunks of the leaves over several days by sliding the leaves through my teeth. When the leaves are gone I chop up the heart for a salad.

But the ideal way would be to eat a freshly picked artichoke with a lovely light lemony dipping sauce, eat it over a leisurely luncheon hours long with friends. And with champagne and cheeses and grapes.

[Tussiemussies]

We love them from The Cheesecake Factory restaurant where they are fire-roasted. Then there is some olive oil, salt and cracked black pepper on them. They . Provide dipping sauce but I like them as they are. I cannot wait to get down to the heart, the best piece. You can even eat part of the inside of the stem too with the way they are made there!!!!

[ApatheticNoMore]

I have been reading and hearing about artichokes for years so when I saw one in my favourite grocery store I bought it, googled how to cook and ate it last night with DGS. What a let-down! What do you like about artichokes?

I like them boiled. Then yes mayo is traditional to dip the ends of the leaves and heart in, but if all that is too unhealthy (it is for me generally) melted butter is also traditional and what I usually use is olive oil, I find it works well, boiled artichokes dipped in olive oil and salt. The best part is the center yea, after the choke is removed. I think they are plenty tasty, however I don't buy them that often because they are something you have to remember to cook (and they are seldom cheap - not one of the cheaper veggies, and after a few going bad because I forgot about them, I'm not sure I will remember.). But they are good when I do remember to cook them. You can get nice fresh artichokes here. Now boiling an artichoke is I guess how time crunched Americans make them and it's fine. :) But many Mediterranean books have one prepare many smaller artichokes and reduce them down to their hearts (remove all the inedible outer leaves, choke etc.) and then use them in a dish - like a vegetable casserole etc.. This has seemed too time consuming for me to try. Do that for 10 artichokes, ack! They also detoxify, oh I'm convinced of it, because my skin looks much better when I've had an artichoke recently, even though my skin looks nice normally. They are a thistle and thistles do detoxify (milk thistle especially but I don't think it's culinary - artichokes are).

[rosarugosa]

My DMIL makes them the way CindyCindy describes, and I really like them. They are fun to eat as IL describes! I also like marinated ones from a jar in salads or on pizza. I don't think I've ever had them boiled.

[razz]

Ok, I will try some of these ideas and see if I like better. The first recipes when googled were all about boiling for 30-45 minutes so I pressure cooked it instead. Thanks. Wasn't sure about the desirable size as the ones on available were all about the size of a baseball.

[awakenedsoul]

Oh, if you boiled them, you might try boiling them for much longer. An hour to an hour and a half is what we do. We get the larger artichokes. The heart is much softer that way.

[rosarugosa]

I will say that DH and I have joked that if you took an old shoe and stuffed it with seasoned bread crumbs and garlic and Romano, it would taste really good. So the way we eat them might have more to do with the stuffing than the vegetable being stuffed! :D

[Tiam]

Love the hearts! Love them in general, but rarely, rarely buy them, because I do like them with a delicious mayo lemon butter sauce and that's too much.

[awakenedsoul]

There was a restaurant in Vienna, Austria that used to make the most delicious raviolis. They served them with an artichoke cream sauce. I'd love to find a recipe. That was my favorite meal there. The raviolis were large. I'm not sure if the sauce was made with canned artichoke hearts or not. The ravioli dough was fresh.

[ApatheticNoMore]

I will say that DH and I have joked that if you took an old shoe and stuffed it with seasoned bread crumbs and garlic and Romano, it would taste really good

that's what I thought eggplants were for. :)