Grilled Artichokes

[GrillinFool]

I'd never cooked artichokes prior to cooking these. I'd added hearts to salads, but other than that, I'd never done much with them. Over the weekend I found myself walking around the produce section at my local grocery store, letting what they had decide my side dish, and saw the artichokes and decided to give them a try. So I bought two and went home to do some research on how to grill them.

Well, then I found out why I had never done anything with them before. There's so much prep involved. I had to clip the tops of the leaves, lop the top of the whole thing off, steam for 15 minutes, slice in half, remove the choke, before they ever went on the grill. Seems like a lot of work, right? Not really. Outside of them steaming for 15 minutes, during which time I opened a beer, started the charcoal, drank some beer, etc, the prep time was less than 5 minutes.

I never cooked with them because I thought they were too much work but really, they are no more work than say prepping a couple slabs of ribs in terms of time. I'll definitely be doing artichokes again.

This recipe is about as basic as it gets, and the perfect recipe to get over any fears of them being too high maintenance.

Here are the step by step instructions. Oh, and there are a couple of pictures in that link. And here are the teaser pictures:

 

[Harold falcon]

 

[Piobaire]

Retraction: I went to the webpage and it looks like you just started off with little tiny ones. Still leaving my pic up.

 

[djblisk]

I love artichoke

 

[GrillinFool]

Originally Posted by Piobaire

Retraction: I went to the webpage and it looks like you just started off with little tiny ones. Still leaving my pic up.

I can't see the pic. All photo sharing sites are blocked at work...

 

[foodguy]

grilled artichokes are the sh*ts. try blanching them quickly first. i think they cook a little more evenly and i think the smoke balance is better. pio, you really should try smaller artichokes ... much less prep and the price difference is significant ... though i know that doesn't bother a big-timer like yourself.

 

[GrillinFool]

Originally Posted by foodguy

grilled artichokes are the sh*ts. try blanching them quickly first. i think they cook a little more evenly and i think the smoke balance is better. pio, you really should try smaller artichokes ... much less prep and the price difference is significant ... though i know that doesn't bother a big-timer like yourself.

I steamed them for 15 minutes before putting them on the grill...

 

[Cary Grant]

I'll have to try the smaller ones I guess. I've never understand the attraction to artichokes. Too much work for too little flavor.

 

[foodguy]

Originally Posted by Cary Grant

I'll have to try the smaller ones I guess. I've never understand the attraction to artichokes. Too much work for too little flavor.

cary, cary, cary. here.

 

[Cary Grant]

Yeah- that I get; for me however they just don't taste like anything (don't care for eggplant for the same reason). Now, as means of helping me eat butter, right on

 

[Piobaire]

Originally Posted by foodguy

grilled artichokes are the sh*ts. try blanching them quickly first. i think they cook a little more evenly and i think the smoke balance is better. pio, you really should try smaller artichokes ... much less prep and the price difference is significant ... though i know that doesn't bother a big-timer like yourself.

I can no longer afford large artichokes

I am contributing my fair share.

FWIW, we don't use butter. For these guys, I took some homemade pesto and then added it to a home made aioli. Very tasty. I love having the big heart and top of the stalk to slice up and eat after the leaves

 

[foodguy]

Originally Posted by Cary Grant

Yeah- that I get; for me however they just don't taste like anything (don't care for eggplant for the same reason). Now, as means of helping me eat butter, right on

hmmm. how to convince? Here: take baby or medium artichokes, clean and quarter. put them in a saute pan with olive oil, minced garlic, some dried red pepper flakes, and about 1/4 cup of water. cover and cook over medium heat until they're just tender (about 10-15 minutes depending on how old they are). Take off hte lid, add chopped black olives and turn the heat up to high. Cook until the liquid in the pan has reduced to a syrupy glaze. Add a handful of chopped basil and serve.

 

[Cary Grant]

Originally Posted by foodguy

hmmm. how to convince? Here: take baby or medium artichokes, clean and quarter. put them in a saute pan with olive oil, minced garlic, some dried red pepper flakes, and about 1/4 cup of water. cover and cook over medium heat until they're just tender (about 10-15 minutes depending on how old they are). Take off hte lid, add chopped black olives and turn the heat up to high. Cook until the liquid in the pan has reduced to a syrupy glaze. Add a handful of chopped basil and serve.

Hmmm. So I get a tasteless plant spoon covered in a delicious garlicky, peppery, tapinadish sauce? I'm there!

 

[foodguy]

Originally Posted by Cary Grant

Hmmm. So I get a tasteless plant spoon covered in a delicious garlicky, peppery, tapinadish sauce? I'm there!

i'm really befuddled as to "tasteless" ... granted you might not like the flavor (fun fact: artichokes are high in a compound called cynarin that makes everything taste sweet). And granted, it might not have the flavor impact of some of your northern midwestern specialties like lutefisk ....

 

[Cary Grant]

It really doesn't taste like much of anything to me. Perhaps I've just had bad 'chokes.