One of my favorite spring veggies is the almighty artichoke. In fact, I love them so much they are a part of my perennial bed. I think that the silvery leaves add beautiful architecture to the garden, but what I'm really after are the flavorful buds. Growing this perennial crop has been easy for me in Sonoma County, despite the hot summers. I do recommend a good pruning in fall to avoid them overtaking the garden and to get rid of some of the less attractive old leaves. For more info on growing artichokes check out Sunset Magazine's guide.
For me part of the allure of artichokes is how great they taste simply steamed, but if you want to try other preparations Saveur is a great place to start.
To steam artichokes:
1. Harvest when the buds are still nice and closed, dunk them in cool water a few times to get them clean and make sure there aren't any bugs hanging out in there.
2. Then trim the top third or so off each. Place them in a steamer over about an inch of boiling water, and steam over medium heat, until a middle petal pulls out easily, about 40 minutes.
3. Serve with melted butter, aioli, or good old mayo.
I guess I should mention how the eat them, my husband used to let me have his heart, turned out he just didn't know how to clean it (I should have never taught him). You pull off the outer petals one at a time, dip them, and scrape the bottom third off with your teeth. Repeat until you get to the tender inner petals, pull up on those, beneath you will find the choke. Simply scrape out all those little hairs with a spoon and you will reveal the best part: the heart, dip and enjoy!
