Veggie Five: Artichoke

This one was an awful long time coming. I bought my first artichoke in November, put off cooking it for a few weeks, and then threw it away when it got mushy. I bought another in December, belatedly remembered it right before winter break, and decided to see what would happen if I froze it while I was gone. It did not end well. Today I went shopping, bought another artichoke, and resolved to make it that very evening.

So I did. The months spent contemplating this mysterious vegetable have involved a good amount of research. Joy of Cooking insists that artichokes are best blanched and then eaten as a finger food, dipped in melted butter. It also claims that you can extract the meat from the outer leaves by pulling them through your teeth. I bought this. It did not end well.

First, in my defense, let me say that I have never prepared or eaten an artichoke before. I looked at diagrams of them, so I had a general idea about what would be inside, but it did not fully prepare me. I blanched it, melted some butter, and then attempted gamely to pull the outer leaves through my teeth and extract their interiors. All that I learned was that artichoke leaves are pointy and sharp and generally unpleasant. Their flavor is "vegetabally" and that's about all I can say for them. I was still not sure I was doing it right, so I hacked my way through to the heart. This dense, white material seemed more promising (after I scraped off the terrible corn silk-like pistols and stamen or whatever). I tried it, but was equally unimpressed with its flavor.

Artichoke, you are a mystery to me. I will leave you to more knowledgeable chefs.