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A few weeks ago my family and I took a road trip down to Monterey. On the way back to SF we stopped in Castroville, a town famous for growing artichokes. My fiance told me how much he LOVED artichokes and how he would like to have it at home, but I have never in my life cooked an artichoke. I bought an artichoke and promised to cook it when I get the chance – which basically meant that I pushed it off until it was the only thing in my fridge to eat . After researching multiple blogs, Youtube videos, and pictures- I decided I had gotten the gist of it. I have to say the artichoke looks a little intimidating, but it actually wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be! After Googling how to eat an artichoke, my fiance and I were delighted with the flavor. I will definitely be adding this vegetable to my regular shopping list. Click continue to see the step by step recipe!
Serves: 1-3 people Cook Time: 2 hours
1 large artichoke
1 clove of garlic
2 slices of lemon
1. First things first- wash the artichoke- just run it under some cold water.
2. Now we need to get rid of those pesky thorns! Grab some kitchen scissors and cut the tips off each and every leaf.
3. Now cut the top inch off which a very sharp knife. This can be a bit difficult to cut through so please be careful!
4. Now cut off the stem so the final artichoke looks like this :
5. In a large pot, add enough water for steaming. Add a crushed clove of garlic and 2 slices of lemon. Place the steamer rack on top and steam the artichoke for 1 to 1.5 hours or until one of the other leaves pull off with ease. Also make sure to check on the water as you might run out and burn the crap out of the bottom of your pan….like i did 🙁
6. Enjoy your artichoke with your choice of dip. I ended up mixing some mayo, mustard, black pepper, lemon juice and red pepper powder for a dip. There are tons of recipes out there- or you just dip it in butter as most people do. Enjoy!
