Grilled Artichokes

For years, I have cooked boiled artichokes
but, since I tried the grilled artichoke appetizer 

at 

Houston's Steak House, 

I haven't been able to go back to the boiled kind.

My boyfriend didn't think he would like them, but, he is now addicted.

We eat grilled artichokes at my house all the time.  

You can make them either as an add on to a meal or as the meal itself.

I cooked them the other night and took pictures of the process so that you can try them at home too~

Let me know what you think!

You will need:

a cutting board

a bread knife

a big bowl

a big pot

kitchen scissors

small spoon
2 large spoons

2 bowls 

a paint brush baster

garbage can

Ingredients:

any number of large artichokes

lemon juice

sour cream (not non fat it doesn't taste right)

mayonaise

olive oil (I use extra light virgin - cold pressed)

salt/pepper

garlic powder

1. heat the large pot of water to a boil

2. Fill the big bowl with water adding a few squirts of lemon juice

3. while the water boils, start preparing the artichokes

This is how you do it:

4. flip the artichoke upside down on the counter

5. take the kitchen scissors and start cutting the small leaves at the stem of the artichoke off

*As you go around the artichoke trim the sharp points of each leaf off

They are sharp... be careful! ;)

(do not put any part of the artichoke into the garbage disposal - it will clog it up)

6. once all of the leafs are clipped, take the bread knife and cut the top off the artichoke off as shown above

7. now, cut the artichoke in half

(the next part is the messy part... so, be sure to have a garbage can handy)

8. you are now going to spoon out the flower portion of the artichoke
taking the little spoon, (shown above)
carefully dig out the hairy part and also take out the red spiny leaves

(red stems shown - very sharp)

**Practice makes perfect with this step**

(Be careful not to dig too deep because the heart is below and that is the best part of the whole thing!)

Once done, it should look like this:

9. wash and immediately put them into the bowl of water/lemon juice

(This will stop them from turning brown)

10. let them sit while preparing in the water/lemon juice, when done with all they are now ready to go into the boiling pot

I leave them in the boiling water for about 15 minutes or until they seem soft
(you can pull at the leaves to see if they are easy to separate)

11. now it is time to get the grill and dipping sauces ready!

For the grill, you want to have a bowl of olive oil, salt and pepper to baste the artichokes
as you turn them on the grill.

As for the dipping sauce, get the sour cream, mayo, lemon juice, salt, pepper and garlic powder.

Put one scoop of both sour cream and mayo to start, add a few squirts of lemon juice, salt, pepper and garlic powder then mix together

Taste it to see if you like it...
 or, if you like the sauce more tangy, keep adding the parts that you think are needed

(it really depends on how you like it)

By this time the artichokes on the stove should be done boiling...

They should look like this.

12. finally, it is time to put them on the grill
 I suggest to put them at a low heat

put them on the grill face down and base the leaves with the oil

be sure to turn them every 5 minutes and baste again

(you can turn the heat up a little as the time goes on)

this should take 20-30 minutes depending how crispy you like them

And.... VOILA!

The final product should look like this!

13. Eating:
pull the leaves from the inside out
dip them in the sauce
the end that you did not clip (meaty part) put between your teeth and eat

when the leaves are gone, you are at the heart of the artichoke

THE BEST PART!

Dip and eat!

ENJOY!!!

I hope to hear how you all like them!