artichokes ?!

[coppercone2]

How do you deal with artichokes?

I just had them for the first time in my life (I tried the jarred stuff once when I was a kid and I had zero interest in it), because I bought a salad dressing with artichoke in it, and it was quite good and refreshing.

I have just been doing the standard 'get rid of loose leaves and cut 1/3 of the top off", then bake in a aluminum foil ball with oil, salt, garlic after its been ruffled up a little. The cook times are excessive (1 hour 30 minutes) at high temperatures (IIRC 425F).

I got 4 of these things and 2/3 came out decent with 1 of them getting a little burned (there was too many outer layers that were too crispy to pull the flesh off of).

It is certainly interesting to eat but it seems hard to incorporate into a meal, it seems more like a late night snack or something. I have tried one of them with lemon. The amount of edible material is kinda variable, it needs a backup side dish in case it under performs.

I have one left over right now that needs to be cooked, and I do not have aluminum foil left over. Does anyone have a preferred alternative method (hopefully to implement tonight?)

[Ian.M]

They can be boiled or microwaved.  The flavor wont be quite as rich as slow-roast, but boiled is *very* hard to get wrong, and many prefer the moister flesh.  Microwaved is trickier as you need to know the weight, and your oven's effective power output, (which may or may not correspond to its nameplate rating) and do some math, then fudge the results a bit if they are older/drier than is ideal.

I don't bother remembering a recipe as I don't get them often enough - just google the cooking time on a reputable recipe site and improvise a sauce - usually a somewhat garlicy and mustardy vinaigrette, but, as I usually cook non-dairy, that's personal preference!

[coppercone2]

maybe I will try the adjustable power on the microwave (i have an inverter and this sounds like a good application)

[Ian.M]

http://www.celtek-electronics.com/microwave-leakage/microwave-oven-power-test

All you need is two 500ml microwavable plastic containers of water and a thermometer.

Microwaving artichokes iisn't something I've really put time into 'dialling in'   The variables are the total mass of water in the artichoke + any added water, the time it takes your oven to get that much water to boiling point then how long do you need to hold temperature to cook it properly.  If the required cooking time is long relative to the initial heating time you'll probably need to program a power reduction after the initial heating phase to avoid boiling off too much water and possibly burning the 'choke'.

[Halcyon]

Sliced thinly and placed on a pizza.

[DrG]

Look up any Italian baked artichoke recipe. Breaded and lots of olive oil, some but not too much garlic, some parsley, salt and pepper. Excellent. A bit of a pain to make.

The ones in the can can be used to make a great pasta sauce. Of course you add some soft cheese and spices, but it is really quite good - I have made it a couple of times - I am sure I have the recipe around here.

Sorry, but I would not favor a microwave here, but everyone finds their own way

[coppercone2]

ah right, I decided to boil it yesterday on the stove because I was too tired to mess with it

It came out good, does not feel as good a stand alone snack (the baked one reminds me of chips), where you can eat it with TV, but I followed it after a small meal and it was decent.

the left over water was purple

[coppercone2]

I got some that were like prepped (skinned partially?) in a plastic tub, by people that know how to prepare it. I cut them in half, put garlic in the middle and drizzled with oil, covered with aluminum and baked at 425 . So delicious I ate a giant tray of them for dinner and it was maybe 95% edible, some of the larger ones got a little leathery.

I wonder why all my prior attempts were so dodgy. I think maybe you just need to remove more of the outer material. Or if they were selling some dried out crap before.

It remind me of aluminum brazing.... . I did not do anything to them, I did not scoop out the middle, it just worked.

if at first you don't succeed try try try try try try try and then try again

if it always worked like this I would eat it regularly.

[jpanhalt]

I use a pressure cooker.  Artichokes take less than 1/3 the time, about 15 minutes, that a stovetop steamer takes.  Then finish in the oven with olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic whatever.

[westfw]

I usually steam or microwave (which is also steaming.)
Get the artichoke trimmed, wet (maybe with wine and lemon) season to taste (garlic!),  wrap in a couple layers of plastic wrap (usually I use the bag that I carried it home in) and microwave for 5 or 6 minutes, and then let it sit there for a while...

I think pre-steaming is a good idea even if you're going to "roast" or "grill" to finish...

I would occasionally send an artichoke with my daughter for part of her (HS) school lunch.  The first time she apparently whipped one out, her friends were stunned:  "Is that ... an ARTICHOKE?"  heh heh.