Just as I try to stretch my daughter’s and husband’s taste buds, I try to force myself to try new or old things as well. I’ve had artichokes before, but never cared for them. I was in the grocery store and saw some beautiful looking ones and thought to myself, “I really need to give them another try.” So, I grabbed a few and decided to start with the basics.

The great thing about artichokes are they have no fat or cholesterol, are low in sodium and high in Vitamin C, fiber, and folate. As long as you keep everything else low-fat, you have a very healthy snack!

As I figured, I found that I liked artichokes this time around. I made a few other recipes that I really enjoyed, but I figured I’d start off with the basics with you as well!

How to Trim an Artichoke

Ingredients

• 1 lemon
• 4 large artichokes
• large bowl of cold water

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Fill a large bowl with cold water; squeeze in the juice of 1 lemon and drop in the lemon halves. Working with one artichokes at a time, saw about 1 inch off the top using a serrated knife.

Snap off the tough, dry leaves around the steam, about 2 layers of leaves.

Use kitchen shears to trim 1/4 to 1/2 inch off the thorny leaf tips.

Peel the stem with a paring knife or cut off the stem completely if you want the artichokes to sit flat. Rub the cut parts with a lemon half, then keep the artichokes in the lemon water while you trim the rest.

Steamed Artichokes

Ingredients

• 4 large artichokes
• 1/2 lemon
• 2 garlic cloves, smashed
• a few stems of fresh parsley
• unsalted butter, melted for dipping

Set a steam basket over rapidly simmering water with 1/2 lemon, a few parsley stems and 2 smashed garlic cloves in the water. Trim 4 large artichokes, removing the stems. Stand upright in the basket. Cover and steam on medium heat, adding more water as needed, until tender, about 45 minutes. To check, stick a knife into the center and it should come out easily.

Serve with melted butter for dipping.

Source: Food Network Magazine April 2012