Day 229 – Baked Artichokes

The other day I purchased two artichokes.
I’ve always bought the hearts marinated in the jar and LOVE those, so wanted to know how it would taste if we baked them ourselves.
I found this great video on the preparation of artichokes on the Ocean Mist website.

Baked Artichokes – serves 4

2 medium globe artichokes
1 lemon
1/4 teaspoon dried sage, divided
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano, divided
4 tablespoons olive oil, divided

Preheat oven to 425 degreesF.
Rinse and gently brush each artichoke under cold water with a kitchen bush.
BE careful! Those thorns on the edge of those leaves really hurt, so watch yourself! I was stabbed by those buggers at least a couple of times.
Using a long serrated knife, trim stem to about 1 inch in length and cut about 1 inch off from the top.

Take two pieces of tin foil about 18-24 inches long and place them crisscross over each other. Repeat for second artichoke.
With a pair of scissors, cut the tips off each of the outer leaves.
Placing your thumbs into the center, gently and slightly open up the artichoke enough like a flower so that the spices and olive oil will be dispersed throughout.

Cut the lemon in half and rub it all over the artichoke leaves, focusing on the leaf tips.

Sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon each of sage and oregano over one artichoke.
Follow with a drizzle of the 2 tablespoons of olive oil.

Bring the ends of the tin foil up to meet each other and fold the ends over. Do the same with the remaining two pieces of tin foil.

Fold all the edges of tin foil together so that the artichoke is completely encased.
Repeat the seasoning and tin foil process with the second artichoke.
Place the tin foil bundles directly on the center ovenrack and bake for1 hour or until a knife is easily inserted into the stem.
Serve with melted butter.

You eat the meat off each leaf by biting down and scraping the leaf against your lower teeth.
I rate everything I bake on a scale of 1-4 with 4 being the best and these Baked Artichokes earned 2 rolling pins.
I wasn’t that impressed with them, but the rest of the family liked them and enjoyed dipping them in butter. It really did nothing for me and all I could really taste was a mouthful of butter.
And I thought it was too much work for such little reward.
What can I say, I guess I want instant gratification.
I did forget to add some sliced garlic that I was going to disperse throughout the leaves, and I wonder how that addition would have tasted.
Also, when you peel away all the leaves, you’ll see the “choke” which is the fuzzy part that covers the heart. It is the heart that contains the most flavor.

Bad, blurry picture, but you can see how the hairs are attached to the heart in the upper right.

Using a knife, gently scrape the hairs away from the heart, discard and the eat it.
Thanks for taking the time to stop by and read today!
I give you BIG baking hugs and muffins!!