how do you prepare artichokes, and how do you eat them?

Question

I have heard that you eat the hearts but the hearts of each little leaf or what, I am clueless on this.

Answer 1

I snip all the spiky tips off with a kitchen scissor. I put them in a pan almost submerged in water. I squeeze the juice of a lemon in while it is cooking. It is done when a fork goes in easily. Pull the leaves off. you'll need to scrape the artichoke meat off with your teeth.Put the part closest to the "heart" in your mouth. You can tell where to bite down. And Yeah the "choke heart" is the best part. Cut the fuzzy looking part away. It is not good.
Also my daughter dips them in ranch dressing first.

Answer 2

trim an inch or so from the stem and then steam them in water for 15 or 20 minutes until a knife point will easily go into the top of the stem right near the bottom of the artichoke. then you pull off the leaves one by one and at the bottom of each leaf there will be a tiny bit of "meat", dip this into butter or mayonnaise and then scrap the "meat off the leaf by pulling it thru your clenched teeth. i know it sounds nuts but that's how it's done!. when you've eaten the "meat" off of all the leaves, your left with the "heart". it will be covered with what look like hairs. scrape the "hair" off with a spoon being careful to just scrape the "hairs" and not the "meat" underneath. when all the "hair" is off you can eat the heart with mayo or butter and lemon right down to the stem. hope this helps... chef Paul.

Answer 3

1. Cut off the stem flush with the body. 2. Cut off about an inch of the top of the artichoke, exposing the middle. 3. Clip the thorns off the ends of the remaining leaves. 4. Place them in a steamer ( I like to sprinkle them with a little garlic powder at this point) 5. Cook on simmer for about 45 minutes. When you can pull a leaf out easily with tongs, and the meaty part is very tender, you'll know they are done. 6. Serve with any sauce you like, mayo or melted salted butter. ( I like mayo). 7. To eat, start with the leaves. Dip the meaty part in your sauce and bite or scrape the meat off with your teeth. When you get down to where it is just thistle on the inside, scrape all of that off of the heart and discard it, The heart is shaped like a sort of cup. Then I cut up the heart and dip that in mayo and gobble it up too. Yum! Enjoy.

Answer 4

Boil them for about 15 minutes. Pull the leaves off and eat the soft part of each leaf and dispose of the hard part. When the leaves are gone the heart will be there waiting for you, it's the best.

Answer 5

I love them stuffed!!!

Stuffed Artichoke Recipe


Ingredients needed:

1 cup Italian bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Salt and black pepper
2 artichokes, trimmed, boiled until tender, remove spiky leaves from the very center.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Combine bread crumbs, cheese, and oil; season to taste with salt and pepper. Carefully spread apart leaves of artichoke, leaving them attached. Pack bread crumb mixture into all available spaces. Place on a baking dish and bake 25 minutes or until golden.

Crab meat or chopped shrimp can also be added, but be sure to add a dash of Cayenne with either of these

Eat by pulling leaves and scraping pulp and filling from each leaf with teeth. Discard rest of the leaf.



Here is another good one:

Hot Spinach and Artichoke Dip

INGREDIENTS
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 8oz cup sour cream
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup grated Romano cheese
1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
1 onion chopped
salt and pepper to taste
1 (14 ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1/2 cup frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1/2 cup shredded pepper jack cheese
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a small baking dish.

Saute onion and garlic in olive oil until clear.

In a medium bowl, mix together cream cheese, sour cream, Parmesan cheese, Romano cheese, garlic, onion, salt and pepper. Gently stir in artichoke hearts and spinach.
Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking dish. Top with pepper jack cheese. Bake in the preheated oven 25 minutes, until bubbly and lightly browned.