Lovely Lovely Artichokes

I was introduced to the Artichoke by a past boy friends mother. We sat around a huge wooden table with fresh vege and meat pilled into the middle. One of the white ceramic bowls was filled with some big flower looking things. No-one was surprised by this (it looked a little odd to me) but everyone grabbed one and started peeling off the petals one by one, sucking them, scraping them with their teeth then discarding the rest. I was shown how to do this and dutifully gave it a go. I didn’t really have an opinion at first, it was all rather tasteless, but as I went on I became a pleasantly engaged in the taste. It was fresh, more-ish, and quite pleasant, especially when I got to the heart. When I moved into the house I am in now, the previous tenants had planted artichoke plants. Yay!

The only way I ever knew how to cook them was chucking the whole flower plus some stalk, in a pot of boiling water with some extra virgin olive oil, rosemary, sage, thyme and a clove of garlic. Boy are they YUM. We had some tonight my “house mate” and I. She was very impressed, quite skeptical at first, but towards the end when she bit into the heart.. she said “mmmmm… thankyou.” All sounds very carnivorous (heart), but there you go.

But thats not the only way to cook or eat artichoke. Since I have some in the garden I must begin experimenting! I have found a link on how to prepare them at Becks and Posh with some LOVELY photos (by Sam Breach..thankyou!), next I will find some recipes.