It’s artichoke season, and asparagus season…joy! And although I love artichokes, I don’t love how long it takes to cook them. That is until I discovered a recipe on the blog Smitten Kitchen which shortened the time dramatically. And, why didn’t I think of this???

This is going to be a ‘no-recipe recipe’.

The trick is to cut them in half and steam them. This shortens the cooking time to about 25 minutes.

Artichokes in the steamer basket

I usually trim them by removing any discolored or small outside leaves, cutting off the tops, and using kitchen scissors to trim any sharp tops of the remaining outside leaves. You can rub the cut edges with lemon to prevent browning but I don’t think it makes much of a difference unless you plan on storing them after the preparation step.

These 4 halves took about 25 minutes to soften. I used a small knife to check if they were done.

Once they are cool enough to handle you can use a small spoon or knife to remove the center choke.

At that point you can put them aside for later or immediately finish them. Heat a skillet large enough to hold a couple of halves over medium high heat, add avocado oil or another neutral oil to coat the bottom. Cook them, cut side down until warm and browned.

Or, I have also cooked them on the BBQ. You can read about them in this post from 2015. Those artichokes came from my Oakland garden before we moved up to Fort Bragg.

Artichoke plants (Oakland)

Grilled artichokes

Serve with your favorite sauce. Our choice is mayonnaise thinned with a little soy sauce and a squeeze of lemon. In the 2015 post I used a sauce made with preserved lemon.

Artichoke

Going forward I think steaming them when they are halved will be my go to preparation method.