Roasted Artichoke with Meyer Lemon, Garlic and Vegenaise

I love artichokes. If my husband were to come home with flowers for me, he could probably do no better than if he were carrying a bouquet of bright green artichokes. I still don’t know why I love them so much. Maybe it’s like unwrapping a present, slowly savoring each leaf, and as you get closer to the middle the leaves are more like delicate petals and there’s less of a strain to eat it, finally coming to the best part with the savory and meaty heart in the end. It’s a food that gives a wide range of flavors and experiences, that it is its own little meal of appetizer, main course and dessert.

Typically my favorite way of preparing artichokes has been to steam them then serve with lemon butter, but after grabbing some artichokes the other day I decided that I needed to expand a little bit and experiment with roasting them. Although there are more steps involved in roasting artichokes, it does offer an interesting, almost smoky flavor that steaming does not.

Roasted Artichokes

• 2 artichokes, whole and raw
• 1 lemon
• 4 garlic cloves, skins removed
• olive oil
• salt
• Vegenaise, optional

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Clean your artichokes, then cut the end of the stalk off and trim the tips of each leaf.

Cleaning and trimming an artichoke

Put the artichoke on its side and cut away about the first 1/2 inch of top of the artichoke. It’s easiest if you use a serrated knife for this.

Place the artichoke in a position that will be easiest for you to cut it in half. I found that after I cut the top 1/2 inch off that it was easiest to put the flower straight down on the cutting board, then cut through the stem to the top of the artichoke.

Cutting the artichoke in half

Cut a lemon in half, and then spread the lemon on all the cut and exposed areas of the artichokes.

Spreading the lemon juice on the artichokes

In the bottom of a baking pan (with optional aluminum foil covering the inside of the dish) pour about 1 or 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and sprinkle some salt.

Preparing the pan for roasting artichokes

Take your artichokes cut side down and spread them around in the bottom of the pan so that they are fully covered with oil and some of the salt.

Press a fresh garlic clove near the heart of each artichoke half, and then add a large slice of lemon on top of the garlic.

Adding garlic and lemon to the artichokes

Put the artichokes face down in the pan with the garlic and lemon kept under each, then add about 1/4 water to the pan. Cover the pan well with aluminum foil and bake in the oven for about 45 minutes to an hour (depending upon the toughness of the artichokes you choose, as well as your own individual oven, you may find that about an hour and 15 minutes is a better length of time).

Roasting artichokes

Serve the artichoke with a vegan lemon butter or with Vegenaise.

Roasted artichoke served with Vegenaise

This turned out really nicely, but I think that there are a few things I may try or do differently next time.

One thing is that I felt that 45 minutes was not long enough. I like my artichoke leaves really quite tender so I could most definitely have kept them in the oven for at least an hour and 15 minutes, if not more.

Another thing is that I felt that the garlic did not add a lot of flavor, nor did the lemon. However, I think it would have been nice to perhaps blend the roasted garlic with the Vegenaise and then served that as the dipping sauce.

What I did enjoy was squeezing the roasted lemon over the artichokes, but this made eating the artichokes a little messy. It is probably better, at least for dinner parties, to serve a lemon dipping sauce on the side.

At any rate, this was a good experiment for me to try. Any suggestions on other good ways to prepare fresh artichokes?

If you were to ask me what my favorite food is, I’d probably reply – without hesitation – that it is steamed artichokes with a bit of lemon butter for dipping. It’s rather interesting, especially since there are so many ways you can devour them, but so far for me this is the way to eat an artichoke.

Of the ways you can eat these flowers (yep, flowers), there’s the ever popular artichoke hearts, which I enjoy on a salad or in pasta. You can grill them, which gives them an interesting smoky flavor. Supposedly you can deep-fry them (of course, I grew up in the South where just about anything can be deep-fried), but I don’t think I’ve had them this way. Still, though, none of it measures up to steaming them and eating them one leaf at a time.

In selecting artichokes to steam, I personally feel that you have to find ones with a vibrant green color and they have to squeak a little when you squeeze them. I also prefer artichokes with pointy leaves that are not flat against the body of the flower. I’m not entirely sure of the true difference between these types of artichokes, but the ones I prefer seem to have heartier leaves, although it’s easier to poke yourself on their thorns.

Steamed Artichokes with Lemon Butter

• 1 – 2 fresh artichokes, rinsed well and damaged leaves removed
• 6 – 8 cups water
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice, fresh or from concentrate
• 1 tablespoon vegan butter, like Earth Balance
• Salt, to taste

Rinse the artichokes well and check in between the leaves to make sure you get out any debris (not a big deal if you don’t find or get it all), and remove any of the damaged leaves (usually the small leaves that are at the very bottom of the flower). I also like to trim the bottom of the stem off and peel off the outer layer of the stem with a knife (some people remove the stem altogether, but I like to eat this part as well).

You may also want to cut the top part of the leaves off so you won’t have any thorns sticking you as you eat. I’m too lazy for this, so I skip this step.

If you have a rice cooker that steams vegetables, you can steam the artichokes in here. Every steamer is different, but I tend to steam for about half an hour to about 45 minutes. To check, very carefully pull a leaf away from the body of the flower (I usually use tongs to ensure I won’t burn myself from the steam). If it pulls away easily, it’s probably done. To be doubly sure, taste test by seeing how easily the meat comes away from the leaf. It’s all a matter of preference, though, so you may need to cook for longer.

You can also boil or steam these on the stove.

We have a two-piece pot that can steam vegetables, so I put this on the stove at medium to high heat with about six cups of water, and covered the pot with a lid.

I checked the artichokes after about 20 to 30 minutes and I actually needed to add a couple more cups of water. Total cooking time for these was about 45 minutes.

As soon as the artichokes are done, you can quickly prepare your lemon butter. In a microwave safe dish put your lemon juice and butter, then cook in the microwave for about thirty seconds.

After the butter has melted add salt to taste. Then start dipping the leaves and scraping off the good stuff with your teeth. Yum.

Quick note, when you get down to the heart and the leaves are a lot more delicate, take a spoon and scrape out the remaining leaves, then you can eat the heart. Extra yum.

Not sure how to eat an artichoke? Here’s a quick video I found on YouTube that explains it! (I am a bit more generous with the lemon butter though.)

While I really haven’t, you can get pretty creative with dipping sauces. Some people like mayonnaise (Vegenaise!), hollandaise sauce (which I still have to try to make vegan-style), or garlic butter. I pretty much love the simplistic way I’ve been eating artichokes for the last few years, so I haven’t really tried anything else. I’m open to new ideas, though – anyone have any dips they love to have with their artichokes?