Artichokes are an acquired taste. My boyfriend just can’t get into them, but I love them.  I love the “work” involved with eating artichokes.  Maybe it’s because I loved to play with my food as a kid, and artichokes are definitely a hands-on dish.

For a dipping sauce almost anything will work.  I grew up with a garlic-butter sauce and transition to mayonnaise based sauces after an ingredient shortage in college when a simple mayo-spicy mustard sauce stepped in nicely.  Here I prepared a dill sauce that is my favorite so far.

 

Ingredients:20150907_183520

  • 1 artichoke
  • 2 T garlic
  • Water

To prepare your artichoke, cut off about half an inch of the tips to make a flat top and cut stem as close to the leaves as possible.20150907_183634

Place about 1 inch of water in a pot large enough to fold your artichoke. Put your artichoke in the water leaf side down.  Sprinkle garlic on top.  Cover and bring to boil.  Once the water is boiling reduce heat and let simmer for 45 minutes or until the end can easily be pierced with a fork.

Remove from water and let drain.20150907_183651

 

 

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Sauce

  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1/2 cup mayonnaise
  • 1 t garlic salt
  • 1 t onion powder
  • 2 t lemon juice
  • 2T dill

Make sauce a few hours before serving to allow flavors to mingle. Mix all sauce ingredients in a small bowl until evenly blended, cover, and refrigerate. Remove sauce from refrigerator when you start the fish; sauce is best at room temperature.

How to Eat an Artichoke

To eat, pull leaves off one at a time.  Dip the wider end into the sauce and scrap the leaf with your teeth.  Do not eat the entire leaf.  Continue until you get to leaves that are very thin. With a spoon remove the thin leaves and “hair-like” fibers from the bottom.  The thick bottom is the artichoke heart.  Cut the heart into pieces, dip each piece into your sauce and eat.