Basic Boiled Artichokes Recipes

Steps:

• Prepare artichokes for steaming: Snap off tough outer leaves. Using a serrated knife, cut off top 1/3 of artichoke. Snip remaining sharp or spiky tips using kitchen shears. Trim stem so artichoke stands upright. Rub cut surfaces with lemon to prevent discoloration. Repeat with remaining artichokes and lemon.
• Set a steamer basket in a large pot; add enough water so it reaches just below the basket. Squeeze lemon juice into water and add 1 tablespoon salt; bring to a boil. Place artichokes in steamer basket, stem-side up. Cover pot, and steam until heart is tender when pierced with a tip of a paring knife, and inner leaves pull out easily, 25 to 35 minutes; add more water to pot, if necessary. Serve warm or at room temperature with Easy Hollandaise or melted butter, if desired.

Steps:

• Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil.
• Quarter one of the lemons and add to the pot of boiling water.
• Cut the stems off the artichoke and cut the top inch off from the leaves (optional). You can also use scissors to cut the pointed tips off the leaves if you desire.
• Boil the artichokes for 35 minutes or until you can easily pull away one of the lower leaves.
• Fill individual ramekins with 1 tbsp of butter each and microwave until butter is melted (approximately 30 seconds).
• Stir the garlic paste into the ramekins of butter.
• Squeeze the juice from the remaining lemon into the ramekins.
• To eat: pull the leaves off the artichoke, dip in sauce, and scrape the meat off the leaf with your teeth. Once you are out of leaves use a spoon to scrape out the "hair" of the artichoke and then eat the heart of the artichoke (the best part!) by dipping in the butter sauce.
• Enjoy!

Steps:

• Fill the pan with just enough water to cover bottom. Bring to a full boil over high heat. While water is heating, trim and discard the stems and tough outer leaves of artichokes. Tuck slivers of butter and slices of garlic into artichoke leaves.
• When water is boiling, place steamer insert in pot and set artichokes in steamer, stem-side down. Cover pot with lid and allow artichokes to steam for approximately 20 minutes, until tender.

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of water to boil - large enough to submerge all four artichokes. Once the water is boiling, season it with salt to taste. Slice off the domed top quarter of the artichokes, remove the black tip of the stem and immediately place the artichokes in the boiling water. To cook the artichokes evenly and prevent them from bobbing at the surface, place a lid one size smaller than the pot you are using directly on top of the artichokes, weighing them down so they are submerged. Reduce the heat until the water is at a hard simmer, and cook the artichokes until you can easily pierce the bottom choke (where the stem meets the base) with a cake tester or the sharp tip of a thin knife with no resistance, 20 to 25 minutes.
• While artichokes cook, prepare the mayonnaise: Place the egg, egg yolks, garlic, lemon juice and two healthy pinches of salt in a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Whiz for 5 seconds, then, with the machine on, slowly add about half the neutral oil in a thin, steady stream. Turn the machine off, and add 1 tablespoon cold water. Turn the machine back on, and finish adding the neutral oil in a steady stream. If mayonnaise is thick, blend in the remaining 1 tablespoon cold water. Mayonnaise should be light, satiny and silken. Taste the mayonnaise, and add salt as needed. Set aside at room temperature.
• Transfer the cooked artichokes to a wire rack set over a rimmed baking sheet, positioning them upside down to drain. Let stand at room temperature until they are cool enough to handle, about 15 minutes. Then remove the stems in an even cut, leaving the artichokes with a flat base. Peel the fibrous outer layer (and any strings) off the stems, cut the stems into 1/4-inch coins and reserve.
• Place the artichokes, stem side down, on a clean work surface. Gently open up the artichokes to reveal the inner leaves, using your fingers a little like the way you might open your own eye to receive drops, or even resembling the gesture you use to enlarge an image on your iPhone screen. Then pinch the whole purple and spiky choke at the center in one handful, and pluck it out, revealing the fuzzy hair that sits firmly attached in the cup of the heart. Remove this fuzz with your fingertip, or use a small spoon to scrape it away, taking care not to gouge or dig too deep into the goose-pimpled flesh.
• To assemble, place a healthy dollop of mayonnaise in the very center of each artichoke. Spoon in a few of the stem coins, then drizzle artichoke and mayonnaise with olive oil. Serve with additional mayonnaise and lemon wedges. (Any leftover mayonnaise will keep, refrigerated, up to 1 week.)

Steps:

• Select a kettle or pot large enough to hold all the artichokes you are cooking. Half fill it with water and set it over high heat to boil. Meanwhile, trim the artichokes.
• Rinse the artichokes, slice the stem off flush with the base so the artichokes will stand level. Rub the cut areas with lemon. Slice off the top inch of each artichoke and rub the cut area with lemon. Using kitchen shears snip off the top half inch of each leaf. Place the artichokes base side down in the boiling water, lower heat to simmer and weight the tops of the artichokes with a dish or pot lid that fits into the pot to keep the artichokes submerged.
• Simmer the artichokes until the base can easily be pierced with a knife point, 20 to 40 minutes. Remove the artichokes from the water and turn upside-down in a collander to drain.