One of my favorite aspects of spring is the amount of artichokes that make it to my dinner plate. For one thing, they are loaded with antioxidants, dietary fiber, vitamin C and vitamin K, but they also are irresistibly delicious. There is a huge variety of ways to utilize artichokes in your meals but my personal favorite is to cook it whole and eat it with nothing else but something to dip the leaves and heart in.
Preparation
All you need to start making some great artichokes is:
- a pot
- water
- salt
- an artichoke
- your favorite dip.
To start, some people prefer to cut off the pointed tips of the leaves, I personally don’t but it will make life a bit easier when you’re eating it. Another optional step is to shorten the stem as it can make cooking easier, but I actually eat the whole cooked stem dipped in sauce at the end and find it just as good as the heart.
Boiling
Once your artichoke is prepared the way you like it, you will want to put it in and uncovered pot of boiling water with a dash of salt and let it boil for around 30-40 minutes. You will know their done when you can pull off one of the leaves without feeling any noticeable resistance. Once they are done, pull them out of the water and hold them upside down to let the water drain out (careful, they will likely be too hot for your bare hands).
Enjoying
After this, your artichoke is done and you’re ready to start taking off the leaves, dipping the part that was attached to the heart into your favorite dip, often a variation of mayo or butter, and scrape off the meaty part with your teeth. Once the leaves start thinning out, you can cut them off and scrape off any of the fuzz with a spoon and your heart will be ready to enjoy with your dip as well, if you kept your stem connected, just treat it like an extension of the heart and eat that as well.
