How do you eat an artichoke?

Question

How do you eat an artichoke???? i'm not sure.

Answer 1

Very simple: raw. Actually we have three main ways of eating them here in Cyprus (and they are in season now).
1- Cut off the stalk. Peel off the outer hard leaves. Cut into two with a sharp knife and scoop out the soft hairy leaves in the middle. Slice into 7-8 pieces. Wash them well, squeeze lemon juice to prevent from darkening and to give taste. Eat the center (artichoke heart).
2- Cut off stalk. Peel off the leaves so that the round heart remains. Make sure to scoop out the hairy small leaves in the center. Boil until rather soft. Dress in olive oil/lemon juice or your favorite dressing.
3- Cut off stalk, Peel off the hard outer leaves. Carefully remove some of the leaves in the center so that you are left with a 'cup'. Wash well and keep in a bowl of water with lemon juice added to prevent color change. Prepare a mixture of ground beef, rice, chopped fresh (or dry) mint leaves, tomato/tomato paste, salt, pepper etc. Fry the artichokes on the outside in a little vegetable oil. Then stuff them with the filling. Place them upright in a deep pot. Add water almost to the top of the artichokes. Place a heatproof plate upside down over them. Cook on medium heat until the rice is done (soft and grows long). Serve one artichoke or two per person.
You start by munching on the white parts of the outer leaves first. Then you eat the filling, finally you eat the artichoke heart. Plain,natural yogurt is the best accompaniment to this Mediterranean dish.

Answer 2

My favorite way:
invite a friend.
Steam the artichoke for about 15 minutes.
Meanwhile:
prepare your favorite dip
light a couple of candles (or a couple of dozen)
put on some real groovy music.
Put the steamed artichoke on a plate and the bowl with dip next to it, in the middle of the table.
Break off a leaf near the top of the artichoke, dip it and scrape the soft part (there'll be very little at the top) off with your teeth.
Let your friend match you as you gradually proceed down the artichoke.
The leaves near the bottom will have a LOT more soft, delicious pulp to scrape off than the ones on top.

Answer 3

Only the inside part of the artichoke is edible, and I do not know what people do with the outside part.
Here is a nice recipe
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Anja's Famous Spinach and Artichoke Dip

This is a delicious hot appetizer that is easy to make and is great to bring to an hors d'oevres party. It can be served either with slices of toasted bread or simply with tortilla chips. Either way, it's delicious!

Servings: 12
Preparation time: 1 hr

INGREDIENTS:
2 packages neufchatel cheese (cream cheese)
3/4 cup parmesan cheese
1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/4 cup skim milk
1 teaspoon minced garlic or garlic salt
1 package frozen spinach, thawed and patted dry
12 ounces drained artichoke hearts, cut in 1/2" pieces
1 slice of lemon or squirt of lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place first 5 ingredients in a microwave - and ovenproof dish with lid (such as a corningware). Heat in microwave for one minute or until all ingredients are easily incorporated. Mix the garlic, spinach, and artichoke heart pieces into the cheese mixture. Bake 50 minutes covered, then 10 minutes uncovered. As a final touch, squirt the lemon juice on top. Enjoy!

Answer 4

To prep it, cut off about the top third and pull away the prickly outer most leaves and trim the others with scissors.. Then cut in half and get the fuzzy and hard stuff out.
Then you can cook it whichever way you prefer.
\To eat, you pull off the leaves and pull it through your teeth, biting away the tender part.
Artichokes taste best (to me) with some type of lemon sauce.

Check out this instructional video! (I wish I had as much when I learned how!)
Enjoy your artichokes! I love them!

Answer 5

I love them. You steam them until the leaves will easily peel off.
Take some melted butter (some people like mayonnaise also) peel off the leaves, dip them in the butter and scrape the white soft part off with your teeth. when you get to the center, you will see little needle looking things, take a spoon and scoop them out, (don't eat the needle thingys) what's left is the heart, it is a solid piece of goodness eat it all, yumm.

Make sure you have a discard bowl handy for the leaves and needles.

PS: some people skip eating the leaves and go straight for the heart but I don't like wasting any of it.

Answer 6

the only way i know is to scrap the soft tissue off the leave with your front teeth the heart off the artichoke can be eaten in many ways

Answer 7

I'm not too big on them, but I absolutely love the spinach artichoke dip from CPK. So good!