Artichokes

The best way to clean chokes is set them in the sink & cover with cold water for a 30 mins or so. Then take a shape knife & cut the stem back with an even cut so that they can stand upright in your pot or steamer without falling. After you cut the stem off, take kitchen shears & go around each choke & snip the tips of each leaf to remove the tiny stickers at the tops of each leaf. Run back under cold water again & now you can safely spread the leafs back some without getting pricked! Pull the center back & reach in with the tips of your fingers & pull out all of the little tiny purple leafs that are near the heart in the very center, they are too small to eat so remove them now to avoid a mess while eating them later. With the centers cleaned before cooking gives you an area to insert a fork into the heart to check for doneness, (beware of steam) when it goes in without any effort then they are done. I set them on a paper plate or some paper towels to cool some & this also helps remove any excess moisture so you don't end up with a puddle on your dinner plate. Artichokes are a little involved to clean & cook, so I now clean & cook four at a time & stick them in a big zip lock until we are ready to eat them. They last for quite a few days with no problem in the frig. I then set each artichoke in microwave proof (cereal size) bowl and nuke them for a minute or two to knock the chill off right before we are ready to eat them. Although these things taste excellent cold too!!

Steaming makes these the perfect texture. Like others, I added plenty of water (the water level was flush with the bottom of the steamer). In addition to slathering the artichokes with butter and garlic before steaming (great idea!), I also added slices of lemon and minced garlic to the water. I steamed them for 45 minutes and made two sauces to dip the leaves in--one with butter, garlic and lemon, the other with mayo, a little bit of balsamic vinaigrette and pepper. My husband loved these and so did I! Will definitely make again...

Pretty good. Like most other reviewers I needed considerably more water and fresh lemon juice (throw in the peel too) is quite good. BUT DON'T CUT OFF THE STEM, IT'S JUST THE END OF THE HEART!!! Just trim of the end (like you would cut flowers before placing in a vase). It also gives you a way to test for doneness. Pierce the stem with a knife,if it goes through easily, it's done. ALSO: try fresh lemon juice with salt, fresh ground pepper, fresh garlic and slowly beat in Extra Virgin Olive Oil for dipping. Ligh and velvety.

Keep an eye on the water in your pot- something that helps is to add a splash of vinegar into the water. It may sound odd, but it gives it a nice, very subtle taste. Melting butter and garlic to dip in is wonderful. Depending on their size, they make take longer to cook- you can check if they´re done by trying to tear off a leaf. If it peels away easily, they're done!

This was a great starting point-I literally slathered the artichokes with butter and (minced)garlic instead of putting between the leaves, and I took the suggestion about using lemon-I laid a lemon slice over each one. I filled the pot with water to the bottom of my steamer insert and did not have to add any water while they were cooking. I also added a chicken bouillon cube to the water along with 1 teaspoon of my favorite "Trader Joe's Pasta seasoning blend". Because my 'chokes were big-I extended the cooking time to 1 hour. I let them sit in the covered pan for about 15 minutes prior to serving, and they were PERFECT. I served these with a lowfat mayo and fresh basil pesto I mixed together-my family asked for them the very next night!!

I made this turn out good eventually. If you follow the instructions to the letter, by only putting enough water in the pot to cover the bottom of the pan and then try to steam for 20 minutes, you will end up with a house full of smoke. All of the water evaporated within 10 minutes and the butter that was stuffed in the artichokes melted to the bottom and burned on the bottom of the pan. Lucky for me I gave this recipe a try on Christmas eve and didn't embarass myself in front of my guests on Christmas Day! The recipe should suggest putting much more water in the pot that that. I think I ended up putting close to 6 cups just to be sure. Also my artichokes took much longer than 20 minutes to steam. They took about 45 minutes. All in all they ended up turning out well.

This is just a little heads up for some folks who never made and or eaten artichokes whole like this before. I read through some of the reviews and noticed that some were trying to eat the whole leaf. what you do is remove a leaf, dip in butter or sauce and scrape the fleshy part off with your teeth. Discard the rest of the leaf.I hope this helped.

This was amazing. I have been making stuffed artichokes for a while now and this tastes SO MUCH BETTER. Very simple and easy to do. I do cut the choke in half to make it easier to serve later. I also served it with a garlic butter. Delicious. Thanks for the post.