The WHOLE Pursuit May 2

Today I am attempting, for the first time ever, to cook an artichoke. This is a completely new territory for me. I can remember being a kid visiting relatives in Georgia and we had artichoke hearts with melted butter for dinner. I also remember them being delicious! Since then, I've had artichokes in all of their over used forms--pasta dishes, dips, pasta dishes, chicken recipes, pasta dishes...I tend to feel they are overused in pasta. I also know that you can find about 50 jars of artichokes in the canned food aisle, but I don't see them very often in the produce section. Or maybe I didn't know what I was looking at. Here is the artichoke I found for today's experiment:

The goal of the WHOLE pursuit blog is to explore foods that can be enjoyed as close to their natural form as possible, or with no processed ingredients present. Artichokes come from the thistle family, and only require a pot and some water to prepare. For such a simple set up, 1 artichoke provides:

• 7-10 grams of fiber
• 3-4 grams of protein
• Vitamin C, vitamin K, folate, magnesium, potassium and manganese
• Less than 1 gram of fat
• Only 60 calories
• Properties that help lower cholesterol and clean out the liver

(http://www.livestrong.com/article/5282-need-health-benefits-artichokes/)

I did multiple searches on how to cook these, and found that boiling and steaming were the most popular options. I chose to steam mine. But first, preparing the artichoke:

1. Wash under cool water. Take time doing this. The formation of the leaves creates lots of spots for dirt to hide.
2. Cut off the tips of the leaves, any large tough outer leaves, and the stem. Trim off 1/2 inch to 1 inch off the top of the artichoke. The prepared artichoke should look like this:

1. In a large pot, add 2-3 inches of water. Whenever I steam anything, I always add a little garlic and lemon juice to the steam water. It provides a nice subtle flavor. Place steam basket in pot and add artichokes.
2. Cover and bring water to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer, and let steam for 25-45 minutes or until the outer leaves pull easily away. My artichoke took 35 minutes to steam. When leaves are tender, the artichoke is ready to eat!

How to eat an artichoke:


Pull off each leaf. I chose to have a side of butter with lemon juice

and fresh garlic. The white part of the bottom of the leaf is the edible part.Use your teeth to pull out the inner meat from the leaf, and discard the rest of the leaf. Continue to pull leafs until you get to the center of the
artichoke.

It will look like the picture to the left. The inner fibrous portion is not edible. However, it easily scoops out to reveal the tasty heart inside (picture on right)   While this took a little bit of time, it was incredibly easy, and tasty! Enjoy!



In Pursuit,

Sarah