When I was maybe 8, my dad took me with him to NYC for a business trip. I remember going to see Cats on Broadway and being out late in the city with him. We didn't eat dinner before the show and my dad didn't realize how late we would get out of there. So after the show we started walking around trying to find somewhere to eat. I don't remember the name of the restaurant, but we finally found one. The first thing that caught my eye on the menu was an artichoke!
See I have loved these things since the first time my parents introduced them to me! So I was expecting it to come out to the table steaming hot, with yummy sauce for dipping (my dipping obsession started early). Boy was I wrong....
This thing comes out to the table refrigerator cold, with lemon juice and melted butter. For an 8 year old that was very hungry, this was a total disappointment. My dad had ordered a steak and potatoes, so he just shared with me while I tried to be polite and eat the cold and gummy artichoke.
Sometimes instead of making a big dinner, I will just make artichokes. My love for them have not passed onto my son or my husband unless they are the canned artichokes, in a dip, or in a pasta, etc. My daughter, however, loves them just as much as I do. I make them a meal in themselves because the sauce, well lets just say the sauce is very rich. Sometimes I'll eat a steak, or some kind of protein with them, just to round out the meal, but I usually am just fine with the artichoke itself!
My daughters love for artichokes trumps pizza...
On Saturday night, I promised her we could have artichokes for dinner. My husband and son were supposed to eat pizza. I was supposed to make pizza dough early Saturday morning. But I was busy, then I went for a walk/jog with the neighbor, our kids, and one of our dogs. Well that didn't go as quickly as I thought it would, the kids slowed us down quite a bit. So by the time I got home, I didn't have time to make pizza dough.
My husband, of course, just said "Let's order Pizza Hut!"
I figured everyone would be okay with that. Not.so.much.
My daughter was super upset. She didn't want "yucky" pizza. She wanted the artichokes she was promised. At that point, the pizza was already on it's way. So I made a pinkie promise that we would eat them for lunch after church.
So here is our Sunday lunch!
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| First you need to trim the artichokes. Slice about 1/2 an inch off the top and then use scissors to cut the tips off of the leaves (they are spiky!) Steam the artichokes for about 20 minutes. Test them by taking a leave off and seeing if it's tender enough for you. |
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| First you need the ingredients. I said it was rich... |
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| Then you need to turn a burner on low, you don't want this sauce to simmer at all. On my stove, these setting works just fine |
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| Melt the butter. Then add the mayonnaise. |
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| Whisk until smooth and creamy. |
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| Add the rest of the ingredients and continue to whisk until the cheese is well blended. Remove from heat. |
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| I used to just put the sauce in a little bowl, and the artichoke in a bigger bowl and have 1 more bowl for the eaten leaves. But my mom gave me these awesome artichoke plates! So serve it however you like. |
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| Enjoy! |
1/2 cup of mayonnaise
2 tbsp of butter
1/4 cup of parmesan cheese
Salt and Pepper to taste (I almost never measure these, but I would say 1/4 tsp to start and add more as needed)
1/4 tsp of garlic powder
1/2 tsp of chives
Melt the butter in a saucepan on low. Add mayonnaise and whisk until smooth and creamy. Add the rest of the ingredients and whisk until well blended. Taste and season as needed. Remove from heat and serve with steamed artichokes.
If you aren't sure how to eat the artichokes, I will post pictures later, but you dip the leaves, bite them, and slide them between your teeth. When you're done with the leaf, it should have teeth marks and looked like you scraped the meat off the leaf! Once you have eaten the leaves down to the small purple ones, stop eating them! Grab whats left of the leaves and twist them off. You should be left with really small leaves just on top of the choke. You get a knife and slide it just inside of the heart and cut the choke out. Once done, you can eat the heart in anyway you like. We normally slice it into 4-8 pieces and dip in the sauce.
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