Purchased for standard artichoke eatin': steamed approx 45 min or until done, then dipped in melted butter. It's just started steaming now and I am HUNGRY. XD
What I do is to take it out of the pot and take out one of the leaves - using tongs since it's hot - and try it. If the meat is too hard, it goes back for another few minutes, if too soft, it come soff immediately. :) Sometimes, as with this one, the outer surface of the leaf is hard and isn't going to soften up at all, but the meat is perfect. Other times - I guess with younger artichokes - the outer surface of the leaf softens at the same time as the meat.
Other people just stick a fork in the bottom, and if it goes in fairly easily, it's done.
In case you don't know thing one about artichokes, this is what I do:
Buy an artichoke. THe best have the leaves tightly wrapped up - if they start standing out, it's kinda old. At some points during the year, you won't be able to get the tightly-wrapped ones, but you just get the tightest you can.
I peel off some of the outer leaves (other peel off all of them, but they've got good meat on 'em!), and then use a bread knife to saw off the stem. Normally you'd get shears and snip off the tips of the leaves left on it, to get rid of the spines at the tip of the leaves and to keep it looking nice, but if it's just me I don't care about the looks and jsut saw off the tips of the leaves with the bread knife. :)
I then steam it upside down in a small pot with one of those funky steamer baskets inside it - usually about 45 minutes. Small ones, I start at 30 and try it every 5 minutes or so. It can be up to an hour or so if it's an older, tough one.
To eat, dip into melted butter (garlic aioli, or whatever sauce you want) & scrape off the meat with your teeth. Once you have eated the leaves, you'll have the fuzzy choke - it's a thistle after all - sitting on the meat. Pull or scrape off the fuzz (this is not a neat thing to eat), and then chop up the meat and dump it into what's left of the butter. Really nice with melted butter and hot crusty French bread.
I've currently got that OH GOD YOU ATE HOW MUCH BUTTER?? thing going on with my system; if I'm smart I'll stick to, like, salads for the next few days. :P
I'm now getting sort of hungry again - an artichoke isn't that much food when you think about it - and before I found the Enormous Mutant Artichoke I was going to have grilled-cheese sandwiches with tomato soup, so my brain and gut are now warring with the YOU WANT MORE GREASY DAIRY?? vs. IT'S GOT CALCIUM IN IT, IT'S BOUND TO BE GOOD FOR ME!!
Now, if I were smart I'd go eat those carrots sitting in the fridge...
I did use the cameraphone to take some pics of it next to the cat, for size comparison, and to get those uploaded will require me to Bluetooth 'em to the PDA, then install the PDA software on my work computer (haven't done so since our XP upgrade) and transfer them there. So you may or may not get them. :D
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Eat your (er... its) heart out, baby!no subject
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Other people just stick a fork in the bottom, and if it goes in fairly easily, it's done.
In case you don't know thing one about artichokes, this is what I do:
Buy an artichoke. THe best have the leaves tightly wrapped up - if they start standing out, it's kinda old. At some points during the year, you won't be able to get the tightly-wrapped ones, but you just get the tightest you can.
I peel off some of the outer leaves (other peel off all of them, but they've got good meat on 'em!), and then use a bread knife to saw off the stem. Normally you'd get shears and snip off the tips of the leaves left on it, to get rid of the spines at the tip of the leaves and to keep it looking nice, but if it's just me I don't care about the looks and jsut saw off the tips of the leaves with the bread knife. :)
I then steam it upside down in a small pot with one of those funky steamer baskets inside it - usually about 45 minutes. Small ones, I start at 30 and try it every 5 minutes or so. It can be up to an hour or so if it's an older, tough one.
To eat, dip into melted butter (garlic aioli, or whatever sauce you want) & scrape off the meat with your teeth. Once you have eated the leaves, you'll have the fuzzy choke - it's a thistle after all - sitting on the meat. Pull or scrape off the fuzz (this is not a neat thing to eat), and then chop up the meat and dump it into what's left of the butter. Really nice with melted butter and hot crusty French bread.
no subject
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I've currently got that OH GOD YOU ATE HOW MUCH BUTTER?? thing going on with my system; if I'm smart I'll stick to, like, salads for the next few days. :P
I'm now getting sort of hungry again - an artichoke isn't that much food when you think about it - and before I found the Enormous Mutant Artichoke I was going to have grilled-cheese sandwiches with tomato soup, so my brain and gut are now warring with the YOU WANT MORE GREASY DAIRY?? vs. IT'S GOT CALCIUM IN IT, IT'S BOUND TO BE GOOD FOR ME!!
Now, if I were smart I'd go eat those carrots sitting in the fridge...
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I did use the cameraphone to take some pics of it next to the cat, for size comparison, and to get those uploaded will require me to Bluetooth 'em to the PDA, then install the PDA software on my work computer (haven't done so since our XP upgrade) and transfer them there. So you may or may not get them. :D
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Though I suspect she does not have an artichoke bigger than her head, so you're ahead (so to speak) on that count.