Artichokes...what do you so with them??

[MamaHippo]

I see artichokes in the grocery store from time to time but I have no idea what to do with them or even how to eat them. What do you do?

Casey

[Tani]

This is how my family eats them. You take the whole choke, trim off the bottom of the stem and steam it until the leaves pull away easily. This can be up to 30-35 minute for some of the really big ones, less for smaller ones.

I think a lot of people then discard the leaves and go straight for the heart (the inner edible bit) but we always peeled the leaves back one by one, dipped them in sauce and scraped the the little fleshy bit at the base of the leaves with our teeth and then discard the leaf into a big bowl in the middle of the table :) eventually you get close to the middle and you disgard the inner leaves and fuzzy petals, leaving you with the heart which you then eat.

Butter and Lemon is the traditional dipping sauce, but I like light sour cream with a little lemon and curry powder. Any kind of dip you like on veggies will work, or plain lemon juice.

The great thing about eating the bits off the leaves is that it takes forever to get down to the middle, a nice bonus if you tend to eat too quickly like I do.

[MamaHippo]

Thanks...now I can actually buy one and give it a go!

[Leenie]

The only way my DH eats them is out of a can. Thanks Tani.

[phantastica]

I have a can of these in the cupboard right now. I've seen canned artichoke hearts on Greek-style pizzas, so maybe I'll try that.

[chocolate kiss]

I bought fresh once but they NEVER soffened up like my recipe said they would. I have a wonderful recipe I will post it.

[phantastica]

I use them with other vegetables in a frittata.

[Giasbash6260]

I get artichoke hearts and dice them into tomato sauce, or just place em right on top my salad, they are delicious, one of my FAVORITE FOODS!

[Mel]

I use a pressure cooker to steam them, otherwise they take forever. Then eat them like Tani described. My family's dip of choice is mayo...I just use lemon juice and a tiny bit of olive oil now.

Mel

[rosettastone]

Canned artichoke hearts make nice h'ordeurves. Dry them out then add a dollop of sour cream. The first time I had them they were topped with caviar but you can use chopped olives or pimentos or anything else you can think up. I like to steam artichokes and dip the leaves in mayo. You can use fat free mayo and a little salt.

[rosettastone]

Oops. I meant artichoke bottoms, not hearts.

[abinormal]

Here is a great greek style pizza:

Buy the pre baked thin crusts. Then I marinate some chicken, red peppers, red onions, and artichoke hearts (i buy the ones in the jars that are already quartered, but not the ones in oil) in balsamic vingerette. I then put a spray of olive oil on the crust, layer on some spinach, then i drain and rinse all the marinaded stuffs and layer that on, then i add some black olives, and some mozzerrella on top (oh i just tryed it with mozzerrella, asiago, and roasted garlic blend chesse the other day, yum), oh and don't forget the dollops of low fat riccotta on top, then bake it. It is a lot cheaper to make then ordering pizza and i would have to say, that after I made this for the first time I really never feel like calling pizza hut or the like, hahaha. i figured this out by mimicing a pagliaccis pizza once.

[susie_sunshine]

I put the canned ones on pizza with spinach, feta and onion- that's what we're having for supper tonight!