11.10.2010

the heart of the matter

I ate an artichoke for the first time the other night! Like, a real artichoke plant! Like, pulling the leaves off one by one and scraping the edible part off with my teeth. I kept pulling and scraping, pulling and scraping, and eventually got to the middle full of fuzzy stuff which revealed the heart. Which I wasn't sure was the heart, so I threw it away because I was afraid I wasn't supposed to eat it and apparently it is edible and also the best part. Luckily I have two more at home that I can eat properly this time!

Have you ever had an artichoke? How do you like to prepare/eat them?

Source: photoamato

7 comments:

Miss Milky said...

I love artichoke! I eat only the heart...

Anonymous said...

Peel the artichokes, depriving them of the hard outer leaves,leave about only 1 cm of leaves, and put them in a bowl, add the lemon juice.
Peel the garlic, peeled and wash the parsley and chop them together with the crescent.
Put the mixture to cook on the stove in a pan with oil, then add the artichokes, leaving them brown for a few minutes, and add the broth.
Season with a pinch of salt and pepper and cook over low heat and covered container for about 30 minutes.
After the indicated time, transfer the artichokes in a platter, arranging the leaves to the top, drizzle with the sauce and serve it hot.
Ingredients for 4 people

* 12 artichokes
* Parsley
* 1 lemon
* 1 clove garlic
* 1 / 2 cup vegetable broth
* 1 / 2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
* 1 pinch of salt
* 1 pinch pepper

Sorry for my bad english :-)

Lisa Amato said...

I'm an artichoke whore. I eat them whenever I can find really fresh ones, which is easy since I live near the artichoke capitol of the world. I use the old method of trimming off the stem and leaf tips (thorns), filling a pot (squeeze a lemon over it all and toss the lemon into the water) with water enough to cover about 1/2 of the artichoke, then cook on med/high checking after 30 minutes to see if the leaves pull out easily. If they don't, I check again every 5 minutes until they do. Drain and serve with whatever sauce suits your fancy. Real mayonnaise suits me just fine. ENJOY!!

heather said...

oh my gosh! welcome to artichoke land! :) these have been my favorite since i was a kid, and yeah you threw out the best part. you don't actually eat the fuzzy are, just scoop it out (tenderly) with a spoon or butter knife.

k said...

I've never in the world tried...I'm kind of intrigued now though!

Charlotte said...

I've never eaten an artichoke! How interesting... it sounds like a very tactile experience.

Andrea Krummel said...

wow! thanks for all the great tips/suggestions/recipes!!