How to Cook and Eat an Artichoke

These are reminiscent of my childhood.  My parents used to make them for us on special occasions and maybe even other times as well since I recall eating these often. My favorite way to eat them was with lemon butter. But you know what the weird part is, I haven't made these for my kids, ever!

When I saw artichokes go on sale, I casually asked my boys who were shopping with me if they would want to try it. A little persuasion might have taken place, offering that these are special treats grandpa used to get for us as kids.

The verdict: they really liked them!  I was surprised actually.  All my kids are going through a "I don't want to try new things, and I am definitely not going to like it" phase, so when they kept asking for more, i was thrilled!  Did you know that artichokes are extremely healthy for you?! Now that we've tried artichokes and my kids like them, I am going to start getting these more often because with all their health benefits, you can't go wrong!

Okay, so a few things first.  They are technically a type of thistle, which means, they are pokey and they hurt! You can combat this by cutting off the tip of each leaf before you cook it.  It only took me about 3 minutes to cut them off, so that shouldn't stop you.  The second thing we need to discuss is the amount of time they need to boil.  It took mine about 35-40 minutes.  If you have more than one in a pot at a time, it could take you closer to an hour.  But, if you plan ahead, this shouldn't be a big problem either.

Now, you see in that picture above the meaty tip of the leaf...that's what you eat.  You kind of scrape your teeth along the the end of the leaf to pull it off.  Sounds weird, I know, but trust me, it isn't THAT weird.  I don't love artichokes without some type of lemon butter to dip it in, which I know takes away some of its health benefits, but I figure it is better than not eating it at all.

So now that we have those tips out of the way, this is how you cook it

How to cook an artichoke.
Printable Recipe
1. cut the pokey tips off (very technical here :))
2. place the artichoke(s) in a heavy bottomed sauce pan and fill until water almost covers the tops of the artichoke. The artichoke happens to float, so judge the amount of water by pushing the artichoke down as you are filling up the pan.
3. Bring to a roiling boil and let boil, uncovered for 35-40 minutes (or longer if you are cooking more than one) Another way to tell they are done is that the bottom leaves come off easily.
4. When artichokes are almost finished, make lemon butter mixture.
5. Remove artichoke(s) from water
6. Eat, by gently pulling off a leaf, dip it in the lemon butter and eat the meaty part.  Discard the rest of the leaves.

Lemon Butter
2 Tbsp butter, melted
1/4 a lemon, juiced and seeds removed

Mix the melted butter with lemon (add more lemon to taste...I like mine slightly more lemony, but this gives you a good base to start with for those non-lemony lovers)

Really, these are pretty simple to make and kind of fun to eat.  So now that you know how to make and eat an artichoke, what are you are waiting for?!

Tips and Lemon Butter Recipe from my sister Camille