Artichokes

I love love love artichokes. I grew up eating them. I've learned that not everyone knows what exactly to do with them. There's many ways to cook them... and the biggest part, how do you eat them? Here's tutorial #1 for the artichoke newbies out there. This is my most basic way to eat artichokes.

What you need:

• Large enough pot to make artichoke(s) float with lid
• Water
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice
• Garlic clove, pealed and cut into quarters
• 1 Tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
• Artichoke
• Tongs

Directions:

• Fill pot with enough water to make artichokes float, typically fill 2.5 to 3 inches from the top of the pot... do not put artichokes in yet
• Add lemon juice, garlic, and oil to water. Cover and bring to a boil.

• Prepping the artichoke: cut stem so that it's about 1.5 to 2 inches in length. Tear off any leaves off the stem, and the first row of leaves around the base.

• Once the water is boiling, put the artichokes in the water and bring to a boil and cover
• After about 30 minutes check artichoke by trying to pull a leaf from the middle of the globe with the tongs. If it comes out easy then, the artichoke is ready. If not, boil for another 10-15 minutes covered, and do the test again.
• Use the tongs to remove the artichoke from the water, and place stem facing up in a plate or bowl to let the water come out of the globe.
• Let cool for a few minutes.

How to eat:

• WikiHow this is completes with some cooking/prepping instructions... I don't bother cutting the sharp leaf tips off, it's more time consuming and they get softened from boiling anyways.
• YouTube video: