Well, no chicken, but I really like that expression. We’re having artichokes tonight-- our first of the season. Usually we steam them and then grill them. How do you prepare yours? Do you make a dip for the leaves? Do anything special with the heart?
We are basic, steam and eat.
What I would love to know is how Houston’s prepares their grilled 'choke. Split down the middle, seasoned with something heavenly, and grilled to perfection. Served with a sauce, but quite tasty on their own. They are hard to get, as they sell out very quickly.
Oddly enough I prepared artichokes last night for a pasta dish.
Artichoke hearts, sun dried tomatoes, capers, garlic, chile flakes, EVOO and chardonnay for a sauce on Barilla angel hair pasta. Topped with five U-8 Black Tiger Prawns. Served with a 2006 Riesling Auslese that Posner sent me. Pretty damn good dish and combo with the wine.
Our 'choke last night was not as good a specimen as it appeared to be. Tex, did you buy just the hearts, or did you eat the leaves too?
Just hearts, packed in oil.
I put mine in a bowl of water with plastic wrap over it, then microwave it for 6-10 minutes depending on size. I dip leaves and heart in mayo. Yum.
That’s what Steve did last night, only instead of steaming it all the way, he split it and put the halves on the grill to add a little smokiness.
I always see artichoke dips at places like TJs, but I’ve never made one… might be a fun project.
Have our first home grown 'chokes just about ready now. We tried the two biggest specimens when they were still roughly the size of a baseball each but the leaves were very tightly packed and as a result we didn’t rinse them well enough and we ended up steaming them (pressure cooker) with a bunch of dirt and earwigs in them. Ooops!
I make meyer lemon & garlic aioli to dip them in. Yum.
Trim the leaf tips, the stem and cut the the top inch off the 'choke. Drizzle liberally with olive oil. Season with salt, pepper, oregano, red pepper flakes and tuck some slivered garlic cloves in between some of the leaves. Steam and serve with aioli, melted butter or just as-is. DEElish.
![[swoon.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/f/f425e8dac3e7344bee264da02e55428971be23a9.gif "swoon"){kind=small}
Earwigs make my skin crawl. They are scary-fugly, even by insect standards. For some reason, one will find its way into our mailbox every now and then, and it never ceases to make me recoil in horror. I think if I found one in my dinner, Steve would have to scrape me up off the floor.
Well Melissa, I guess I won’t mention how many of those nasty things come in on the grapes every year. ![[shock.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0b1dcf699ec319f43254f92e3f145786dcd93904.gif "shock"){kind=small}
I usually only do the baby artichokes. I just cut them in half and oven roast them. The big ones are too much of a pain in the ass.