Artichokes

I had a request (like 3 months ago or something) to tell the story of what I do with artichokes. So here it is! Boil them. The end. Just kidding! Well, sort of. First you have to trim them. I cut off the stem until it's about an inch long. I cut off the top 1/3 of the whole artichoke so the boiling water can get into all the leaves, and I peel off any leaves that are on the stem or lower than the rest on the body part. To cook them, I just boil away, in the biggest pot I have, for 45 minutes or so. Sometimes I salt the water, sometimes I don't.

I never used to like chokes, but got the taste for them a few years ago. This came in handy when I was pregnant, seeing as 90% of my diet consisted of artichokes and ceaser salad. They come in all different sizes. We found these monsters a little bit ago. There is many a night where we will make up huge chokes, one for each of us, and that is our dinner.

Part of the fun of chokes is the dip. You can make anything you want. Some people use melted butter, but I prefer a mayo based sauce. In a little food processor (you don't have to use it, but it makes it easy) I start with some mayo. Maybe a cup or so, that we will split. I always put garlic powder and the juice of half a lemon. I add chives if I have them (and boy do I have them right now) and some sort of herbs. Maybe rosemary or thyme. Oh and pepper. Tons of pepper. Salt helps too. Then, you just have to buzz it for a second and thats it!