Artichokes
1 head of garlic PER artichoke
1/2 bunch of curly parsley per artichoke
olive oil
salt and pepper
First, prep the garlic and parsley. Finely chop each head of garlic in a food processor. Then, process however much parsley you need.
Next, trim the artichokes. Cut the stem off flat so the artichoke will stand up on its own and removing any of the really tiny leaves. Cut the top of the artichoke off to open up the artichoke so you can stuff it. Trim the spiky part of the remaining big leaves. Rinse. If you are making a lot of them, you can soak them in lemon water so they don't turn brown.
To stuff each artichoke, first loosen up the leaves starting at the outside working in towards the middle. Starting from the outside, stuff each individual leaf with garlic, until you've gotten far enough into the middle section that the leaves start to get too small to stuff. After the garlic, stuff each leaf again with parsley.
Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. I never add enough salt the first time.
Place the artichokes in a pot, you can use more than one if you don't have a really big pot. Fill with just a small amount of water so that there is enough to steam the artichokes.
IF YOU MESS UP, IT WILL BE THIS: you have to constantly monitor the water level as you simmer the artichokes. If you let it all evaporate, the artichokes will burn. I've done this, you can still eat the leaves but the heart gets a burned, bitter flavor. And the heart is the best part of these.
Depending on the size of the artichoke, it may take anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours for them to be done. When the artichokes are done, the leaves will pull out very easily from the bunch. Sample a big leaf on each artichoke so that you know the meaty part is done. Keep cooking at 10 minute intervals until they are done. Add more salt and pepper as you taste them if necessary.
Awesome second dish: you can keep the broth from the simmering process to make amazing risotto.
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