It may be a bit intimidating to see, let alone cook an artichoke. This is especially true if one has not seen an artichoke before. However it is not something to worry about as artichokes are easy to cook and eat. So what do you do with it anyway? How to do you cook them? Best of all, how do you eat them? If you are looking for answers then here’s how you can do it.
Steps:
Before you cook artichokes, you need one or two (or as much as you like) artichokes, one bay leaf, a slice of lemon and two cloves of garlic. You will also need scissors or a sharp knife, steaming basket and a large pot for cooking so you might as well prepare it. Once you have them, here are the steps on how to cook artichokes.
- With the use of scissors or knife, cut the thorny tips of the leaves but you can also keep them that way if you don’t want to. Carefully slice off about ¾ of the tips of the artichoke leaves.
- Cut the excess stem and leave about an inch on. Some people love to eat the tips but they may be bitter in taste so if you don’t want to eat them just slice them off.
- Wash the artichokes in running water and make sure they are clean. Open the petals a little bit so water can run through on the insides of the artichoke.
- Put about a couple inches of cold water in your large pot. Place the garlic, lemon and bay leaf as this will add flavor to your artichoke. Place the steaming basket inside your pot and add the artichokes. Cover the pot and bring the water to a boil. Once it boils, reduce the heat to simmer.
- Allow the steam to cook your artichokes for about 20 to 45 minutes depending on how many artichokes you are cooking. You can also cook them in a pressure cooker if you have one which will help reduce the cooking time.
- Once the petals come off easily, turn of the heat and remove the artichokes.
So how do you eat your artichokes? Remove the petals and dip the soft part on melted butter or your choice of sauce and eat only the soft, pulpy part of the petals. Continue to do until all petals are removed. Remove the “choke” or the fuzzy part that covers the heart of the artichoke which is also the bottom part. Cut them into pieces and dip them into your sauce. You can also eat them with mayonnaise and balsamic vinegar.