Taking Artichokes to Heart

I have a confession to make... it took me thirty-five years to get up enough courage to prepare an artichoke “from scratch!” Now, though, I’ve figured it out--and I’m so glad I did. Last month, on a trip through Central and Northern California, we drove through Castroville--“Artichoke Capital of California”--unfortunately, just two days too early for the annual artichoke festival. There were lots of signs directing us to roadside stands offering deep-fried artichokes, but my husband (not an adventurous eater) didn’t want to stop. I had better luck a couple of days later in the Napa Valley, where I was served a glorious grilled artichoke with Aioli at the Rutherford Grill, which is practically across the road from the glorious Neibaum-Coppola winery and right next to Beaulieu’s tasting room. That wonderful appetizer, coupled with my regret at missing the famous fried artichokes of Castroville, convinced me that it was time to take myself in hand and figure out just what to do with those spiny green globes in my own kitchen.

My first stop was the California Artichoke Advisory Board -- http://www.artichokes.org -- based (wouldn’t you know it) in Castroville. This is a great site, with step by step instructions AND pictures in the “Basic Preparation” section (under “Recipes and Such”). My next stop: Thrifty Foods, where I picked up a single artichoke for my experiment, stabbing myself not once, but twice, on the thorns in the process. I had forgotten about the thorns... since they’re always gone by the time the artichoke gets to me. Now I know why those instructions told me to snip off the pointy ends of the leaves!

I took my prize home, threw some garlic-rosemary marinated chicken into the oven, and got to work on my artichoke. First, I cut off the stem--which is also edible, by the way--and washed the artichoke thoroughly, poking myself with the thorns once more for good measure. Then, I sliced off the top quarter of the artichoke, snipped the sharp tips of each leaf with my tiny kitchen scissors (ah, sweet revenge!) and dunked the whole thing in a bowl of lemon water to prevent discoloration. I then cut it in half, removed the choke (though I had to look at the step-by-step pictures a couple of times to figure out just where to stop scooping) and steamed it for 25 minutes over some salted water, pulling out a petal near the middle to check for “done-ness” toward the end of the cooking time. We ate it while we waited for the chicken to finish cooking, and (miracle of miracles!) both my husband AND my four-year-old enjoyed it (though I think she liked the action of dipping it into the roasted-garlic mayonnaise the best).

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