It’s that time of the year when artichokes, strawberries, rhubarb, chives and spring onions call out to us to change our kitchen skills for the season. Spring time! And I really love the season and its harvest.
I went into my favorite supermarket the other day and saw this. So beautiful. How can one resist?
Look closely at these ones. They are so perfectly round and their petal-like bracts don’t even end with a pokey spine. They were so tender that the spines in the larger bracts were not sharp at all. How wonderful. I barely had to trim it–just the top of the head–even though I didn’t even have to do that.
My kids share my enthusiasm to nosh on artichoke. Ted just can’t figure why we would work so hard to scrape the flesh off the bracts.
My friend in Australia taught me how to eat artichoke with butter and lemon juice. I like it with fried garlic with a generous pinch of sea salt thrown in to the dipping sauce just before serving. Ted prefers it with mayo.
This time we ate it with fried garlic, browned butter (butter heated until it was bubbling), and a selection of three different butters.
My daughter recently introduced me to different butters. I decided, as well, to test which butter tastes best–Land Lakes, President French butter or Kerrygold Irish. (I found it hard to have a favorite. I thought they each tasted wonderfully different but were all good.)
Because my herb garden had a burst of chive flowers I added some little blooms from my chive flowers to the artichoke. The chive gave it a little burst of chive pungence.
If you’ve never served whole artichoke, do try it. It’s not difficult to prepare this for a small group of friends. You can steam two and serve them with several dishes of fried garlic and melted butters of different types. It will make a great conversation piece and delicious starter.
Eating artichoke is such a luxury. You have to peel off each bract, scrape the fleshy bract with your teeth and savor it. Like eating crab, one can’t rush eating this delicacy and it’s best to eat it with company. Or in my case, Ted ate a few pieces and left me to eat the rest, including the heart, by myself. He had stew instead.
After all the bracts have been peeled off, you end up with this.
Enjoy the last few tender pieces until it exposes the fuzzy choke. Sometimes the fuzz can be tough and spiny and you have to scrape it off with a knife. But the artichoke I bought was so tender it was soft and I could even just peel it off with my finger until–literally–the tender heart is exposed.
Cut the artichoke heart into small pieces, drizzle it with butter or garlic and serve.
Steamed Artichoke
Serving size: Serves 2 as a starter
Preparation time: 30 minutes
1 artichoke
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
¼ cup oil
4 ounces butter melted
With a sharp knife, carefully trim off the top of the head and part of the long stem to leave a short stump.
Fill a deep 5-quart pot with one inch of water. Place a steaming rack in pot and place artichoke into pot.
Bring water to a boil. Cover pot, lower heat to simmer and cook covered for 25-30 minutes.
Meanwhile fry garlic in oil, following instructions here. Melt butter separately in microwave or in a saucepan. Set these aside in small sauce dishes.
When artichoke has been steamed for 25 minutes, uncover pot carefully and transfer artichoke on to a dish. Peel off one bract and test to see if its flesh is tender. If it’s not done, return to pot and steam another 5 minutes.
Serve with fried garlic and melted butter.