Delicious Steamed Whole Artichokes

Submitted by Sharon123

"From Food 911, these are so good! I used to live in Watsonville, California, the artichoke capital!"

 

• Ready In: 55mins
• Ingredients: 9

ingredients

• 4 sprigs parsley
• 4 garlic cloves
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 lemons, cut in half
• 1⁄4 cup white wine (or use white grape juice)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 quart water
• salt and pepper
• 2 whole artichokes

directions

1. Put the parsley, garlic, bay leaves, lemons, wine, oil and water in a large pot and bring to a simmer. Season the liquid with salt and pepper.

2. In the meantime prepare the artichokes:

3. Wash artichokes under cold water. Using a heavy stainless steel knife, cut off the stems close to the base. Pull off the lower petals that are small and tough. Cut off the top inch of the artichoke and rub with half a lemon to preserve the green color. Or you may put the artichokes in water that has some lemon juice in it. If you wish, trim the thorny tips of the petals with kitchen shears.
4. Place the artichokes in the steaming broth, bottom up. Cover and simmer for about 30 minutes. The artichokes are done when a knife is inserted into the base and there is no resistance.
5. To eat, pull off a leaf and scrape the meat off the tender end with your front teeth. Dip the ends of the leaves in lemon juice and melted butter if desired. When you reach the center cone of purple prickly leaves, remove it. This is the choke that protects the heart. Now, scrape away the thistle fuzz covering the artichoke heart. The heart is the meatiest and in my opinion, the best part of the artichoke. Steamed artichokes may be served hot or cold. Enjoy!
6. You may dip the artichoke in mayonnaise that has lemon added to it, or butter and lemon juice. Yum!

Reviews

[Tisherself]

I've never done anything but boil artichokes in salted water, and we thoroughly enjoy them that way. BUT, this was even better! I used dried parsley since that was all I had, I left out the oil so it wouldn't be so messy, and I used two limes instead of lemons because, again, that was all I had. Delicious!!! Perhaps next time I'll crunch up the garlic cloves a bit because we really like garlic. But who knw that artichokes could taste even better with a little help from a (Zaar) friend? Thank you so much!

 

[surus]

I bought a bag of three artichokes for $2 on the produce clearance stand so didn't expect much. I found this recipe on foodnetwork.com and decided to try it. That version specifies water or chicken stock. I used dried parsley flakes instead of fresh. Also only had half a lemon. I cooked them for an hour just to be sure they were tender. Wow! The best artichokes we ever had. Poured a bit of broth over the artichokes before serving. This will be the only way I make artichokes in the future.

 

[Doelee]

Thank you for the recipe. I was intimidated with cooking artichokes for the first time and used this as my anchor. I used chicken broth, 1 big clove garlic chopped up, black whole peppercorns and a bayleaf for the steaming liquid and we loved the flavor it gave the leaves. 30 minutes was perfect!

 

[Docs Mom]

Wow, this was fabulous. I have always boiled my artichokes, but I think this will now be my go to preparation. What I really like about it is no more watery artichokes. The simmering sauce really added a lot of flavor. The only thing I did different was used a couple of thyme sprigs instead of parsley, because that is what I had on hand. Thanks Sharon.

 

[dmcglon59]

Followed recipe with one exception. I used coconut oil instead of olive. Very nice flavor. Very easy, nutritious and delicious. Denise