Endless Summer Artichokes with Chipotle Sauce

 

When I was a kid, my mother had me convinced that artichokes weren’t worth eating. Being the gullible child that I was, and having a deep suspicion of all things vegetable, I believed her—even as she sat enraptured at the dinner table, dipping leaf after leaf into mayonnaise. Eventually, my curiosity won out. I knew full well anything dipped in Best Foods had to be worth a try. I was right!

“You lied!” I accused her. She just smiled and said, “A little. But here, you won’t like the heart. I’ll eat that part for you.”

I had no idea I was giving away the best part! I’m not so gullible now. But to this day, despite knowing better, I still munch on just the leaves. It’s become a small tradition—in all earnestness and yet all cheeze, I give up “my heart” to IZ. He still can’t believe I fell for my mother’s schitck. She was well known for telling people, “Oh that cake? It’s just awful! But, I’ll eat it so it doesn’t go to waste.” I was well known for believing anything. Most people knew she was kidding because cake is above reproach. Vegetables do not have such a reputation. In my defense, she’d tried tempting me with mayo in past. I hadn’t forgotten how repulsive broccoli is and artichokes seemed more than a little bit similar. 

It’s a bit past artichoke season; they peak in May. But you can still find them at local markets and a good grocery store through July. Before they’re completely gone from the stores, I thought I’d share with you our preferred way of eating them. IZ managed to recreate this recipe from our  favorite restaurant in Santa Barbara. They’re a lot of work, but I promise, so worth the effort.  Just remember to guard your heart and only give it away to someone worthy!

Enjoy! 

Endless Summer Artichokes

Step 1 -Boiling Water

* Add enough water for Artichokes to cook submerged.
* Add salt to flavor.
* Add lemon juice to flavor.
* Add garlic or garlic powder to flavor.
* Add Italian spices to flavor.
* Bring to boil.

Step 2 -Prep (While water comes to boil)
* Cut off the tips from the stems of the Artichokes.  
* Remove unwanted leaves from the base of the Artichoke.
* Cut off unwanted portion of the base of the Artichoke.
* Cut Artichoke in half.

Step 3 -Cook
* Allow Artichokes to boil until just tender.  Typically around 20 minutes or so.
* When finished, remove Artichokes for cleaning.  At this stage, you can reserve a couple of cups of the cooking liquid for a rice pilaf or cous cous.  This will be far more flavorful than plain water.

Step 4 -Clean
* Using a small knife, cut a line along the Artichoke heart where it meets with the thistles.
* Using a large spoon, scoop out the thistles preserving as many of the Artichoke leaves as possible.
NOTE:  I used to do this BEFORE cooking but have found it much easier to do after the Artichokes have boiled.

Step 5 -Prep for grill
* Mix Butter (you can substitute with something heart friendly like Smart Balance) and garlic powder.  About 1 TBS of butter and 1/4 tsp of garlic powder per Artichoke.  However, the flavor profile is up to you.  If you really like salt, add a little salt to the mix.
* Gently soften the butter in the microwave.  Not melted -just soft.
* Use a cooking brush to dip into the butter /garlic mixture and coat all sides of the Artichoke.  Be sure the mixture gets deep into the leaves and not just on the surface.
NOTE:  If you make an extra amount of the garlic /butter mixture, you can set aside as a dipping option for friends and family that don’t like the flavor of Chipotles.

Step 6 -Place directly on hot (400 to 500 degrees) grill.  Cook leaves side down first for about 7 minutes.  They should be nice and browned.  Cook heart side for no more than about 5 minutes -enough to brown and develop grill marks but not so they are dry and overdone.

Step 7 -Chipotle Dipping Sauce (While Artichokes are on the Grill)
NOTE:  This depends entirely on how hot you like your dipping sauce.
* 1 Medium sized Chipotle from a can
* 2 tsp of the “sauce” from the can
* 4 to 6 TBS of mayonnaise.  (Less = hot, More = mild)
* 1 to 2 tsp of Lemon Juice.  
* BLEND all ingredients well.
* Leftover Chipotle Dipping Sauce can be saved in the refrigerator and used on sandwiches instead of plain mayonnaise.

Serve the cooked Artichokes with the dipping sauce(s) and enjoy!

This entry was posted on Monday, July 20th, 2009 at 12:11 pm and is filed under From the Kitchen. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.