ROASTED ARTICHOKES

May 21, 2012

smitten ⋅ fruits and veggies, gluten free ⋅ artichokes ⋅ 6 comments

•My husband was out of town the other night, and roasting this artichoke was my special treat.  I don’t get to cook things like this very often since nobody else in the house is a fan.  It really came together quickly and wasn’t intimidating at all.  I made a roasted garlic mayo to go along with it.  Just me, my artichoke, and whatever sappy love story or raunchy comedy I could find on TV.

 

1 large whole artichoke

1/2 lemon-sliced into half moon

2 large garlic cloves-cut in half

4 sprigs thyme

generous pinch of kosher salt and pepper

pinch of red pepper flakes

2 tbls olive oil

2 tbls unsalted butter

 

roasted garlic mayo

3 tbls  mayo-can substitute all or half with greek yogurt to cut the fat

1 sprig of thyme

pinch of kosher salt and pepper

1/2 lemon-juiced

couple dashes of hot sauce-I used Franks

 

one large artichoke is enough for 2 to share (unless you’re home alone with only the dog to judge you) and you can adjust it to make any quantity of artichokes

 

prep and baking time 1 1/2-1 3/4 hours-depending on the size of your artichokes

425°

 

Preheat oven to 425°  Rinse the artichoke and cut off the stem if there is one.

Peel off the bottom leaves and any others that don’t look pretty.  Using a sharp pair of scissors, snip of the tips of the leaves.

Cut off the top with a sharp knife.  Using the other half of the lemon rub, don’t squeeze (you need the juice for the mayo later) the newly exposed area to keep from browning.

Place the artichoke in the middle two large pieces of foil.  Spread the leaves out a bit so you can stick some goodies inside of the leaves like lemon, thyme, and the garlic cloves.  Drizzle with olive oil.

Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes.

Tightly seal up the foil and place it on a sheet pan in the hot oven. 

Bake for 1 hour and 10 min.  Remove from oven, carefully open foil.  Check and see how things are looking.  Pull out a leaf from a couple of rows in, and test to see in the artichoke is almost done.  If still a little under done, seal up and put back in the oven for another 15 min and proceed with butter later.  If done add the butter.  Seal back up and put in the oven for the last 5 min.

Remove from oven, open foil and remove the garlic cloves that are hiding amongst the leaves.  Place cloves in a small bowl.

  

Add a sprinkle of salt to the roasted garlic and smash with a fork.

Add in the mayo and pepper-mix.

Add the thyme-mix.

Squeeze in the juice-hold off a bit until after you stir it to add more, some lemons are juicier then others.  You just want to add some lemon flavor and thin out the mayo a bit.

Add the hot sauce and taste, adjusting the seasoning if needed.  Let hang out for a bit while you get back to the artichoke. 

 

You can leave the artichoke whole and just peel off the leaves as you go then remove the fuzzy inedible choke with a spoon to expose the yummy heart, but that requires to get up off the couch.  I peeled off all of the leaves and tossed in a bowl; stop and discard the leaves once you start getting to the middle and they are turning a purple shade.  Removed the choke.  Cut the heart into quarters (it’s the part be under the choke at the very bottom of the artichoke) sprinkle with a little salt and pepper, grab the roasted garlic mayo and ♥Enjoy