An amusing veggie to eat. Actually a thistle. You pluck off the leaves one by one and nibble the tender part off the bottom of the leaf. With mayonnaise. You discard the tough and fibrous upper part of the leaf. They are in season, not too expensive, and tasty. One artichoke can make a nice light meal, and many of us find a light meal plenty filling. The impressive size of the artichoke, and the amount of plucking and nibbling makes them seem like more of a meal than they really are. Note. DO NOT put the used leaves down the disposal. They are tough and stringy and will clog your drain, but good, every time.
Cooking is simple. Boil or steam them until tender. About 45 minutes. The Barefoot Gourmet has an entire chapter explaining how to prepare them. Barefoot is into garlic, and recommends slicing up a whole fresh garlic clove and placing slivers of garlic in between the artichoke leaves. Me, I'm not a real garlic fan so I skip that part. But do slice off the stem and the top 1/2 inch or so, leaving a round spot about the size of a silver dollar. Put them in a pot, sprinkle a generous amount of salt on the cut off tops, dribble some olive oil on top of the salt. Add cold water and go for it.
Virtuous. And tasty.
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