Steamed Artichoke
Artichokes are one of those vegetables that seem scary and complicated to make, like Brussels sprouts and asparagus. But really, artichokes aren’t difficult at all. Neither are Brussels sprouts or asparagus. They all can be cooked the same way: steamed. (Most vegetables can be cooked that way, actually. The only difference is how long you let them simmer in their steam.)
The only trick to steaming artichoke is to make sure you have a lidded pot that’s going to fully close and thus accommodate the artichoke. Bear in mind that you have a bit of wiggle room since you can trim the stem flush with the base of the artichoke head if you need to. I lucked out with this one — I forgot to eyeball the artichoke-height-to-the-pot-height first, but after I’d trimmed the stem, the artichoke happened to fit into my favorite lidded pot. If it hadn’t, though, I would have either trimmed the stem a bit more or gotten out a bigger pot.
If you want to be fancy and prevent your cut stem from browning — artichokes have got to be the faster-browning plant on the planet — have a wedge of lemon and a length of cotton string ready, and when you cut the stem, immediately press the lemon wedge against the stem and tie it in place. Your other option is to plan on trimming the stem again after the artichoke is steamed.
After you’ve chosen your pot, fill it with about an inch of water on the bottom, cover it, and place over high heat. As soon as it’s boiling, slice the top inch off of the artichoke, trim the stem so that the artichoke won’t be too tall for your carefully considered pot, and set it in the pot with the stem end down. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 25 minutes.
To enjoy your artichoke, remove it from the pot and let it cool for a few minutes until you can comfortably handle it, then strip away the tough outer layer of leaves. Remove the remaining leaves one by one and use your teeth to pull off the meaty part at the bottom of each leaf to enjoy. You might want to dip the leaves in melted butter or extra-virgin olive oil scented with a leafy herb like basil, thyme, or rosemary. (Mince the fresh herb, mix it into the oil, and let sit for a few hours before serving, straining out the herbs before dipping you’d like. Or you could opt for herbed melted butter if you want a herby flavor.)
When the leaves start getting too small to enjoy and their tips get needle-sharp, you’ve nearly reached the heart. Cutting it out is easy, but be sure to have a bowl of cold acidulated — that is, with lemon juice in it — water handy before you cut into the heart. Like I said earlier, artichoke will brown in a nanosecond, so you’ll need to be prepared to nip the browning in the bud. Or the oxidase in the enzyme, if you want to be more technical about it.
Rip away most of the little leaves and cut what remains into quarters. Immediately drop them into the lemon water. Working with one quarter at a time, trim away the woody stem, the hairy spines above the heart, and the dark-green outer sides of the heart. You should be left with only the cream-colored heart. Immediately plop it back into the lemon water, and leave the quarters there until you want to eat them (which should be soon — once you’ve started to eat an artichoke, the tastiest course of action is to finish eating the artichoke without fussing about it). The faint lemony flavor will compliment the heart’s sweet/creamy one.
Incidentally, artichoke is one of the few edible thistles you can easily enjoy. Burdock is a member of the thistle family, too, but only the root is eaten, not the head; cardoon is another thistle, but usually only the stalks are eaten. So enjoy this unique-but-easy-to-prepare artichoke!
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Tags: artichoke, spring vegetable, thistle
