Artichokes

Mama learned to cook these in Peru, where they were plentiful.

15 minutes to prepare, 45 minutes to cook

Serve one artichoke per person

Janice T. Watlington

Contributor!Watlington, Janice T. Artichokes!Fresh Side Dishes!Artichoke

Ingredients

• 1 Artichoke fresh

Directions

Prepare artichoke by cutting off the spiked leaf ends using scissors, starting at the stem and working toward the tip. When the leaves permit, simply remove the remaining spiked ends in a single cut. Trim the stem to within a quarter inch (roughly half a centimeter) of the base of the artichoke.

Serve one artichoke per person (more if they are really small), along with a dipping sauce, such as French Dressing, Aoli, Curried mayonnaise, or melted butter.

Place the artichoke in a steamer, or directly into a pan with a quarter inch of water in it. Steam for forty-five minutes to an hour --- until leaves pull freely off the artichoke.

An Aoli sauce may be made by placing 1/2 tsp. freshly crushed garlic in a cup of mayonnaise. The curried mayonnaise requires 1 Tbsp. of a good curry powder combined with a cup of mayonnaise.

The leaves are pulled off, and the "heart" end dipped in sauce. This is then placed in the mouth and scraped to remove any "heart". After enough leaves have been removed, the remainder of the leaves and the "hairs" located right above the artichoke heart (which is attached to the stem) may be removed using a table knife. The remaining artichoke heart may be sliced, dipped, and eaten.