Artichoke, Two Ways

Artichokes scare me.  How do you cook them?  Why do all of that work for not much food?  And they're not exactly the cheapest vegetable out there.  Our bushel from Farmhouse Delivery included a few gorgeous looking artichokes, and I had to conquer my fear.  My first attempt was a simple puree.  It wasn't exciting and didn't go over that well.  I think there's value in introducing a food by itself, but I didn't have much success this way.  My second attempt added more flavor and was a huge (messy) success for Robert, Jon, and myself.  My second attempt, with lots of good, strong flavors, and taken from the French Foodie Baby, was a total winner!  I made two dips, one for the tasty bottom and heart, and one for the leaves.  Robert was able to suck and chew on the leaves of the artichoke with lots of gusto.  This became an easy finger food.

Ingredients

• 2-3 artichokes
  
• Fresh parsley
• Garlic (3 cloves)
• Olive oil
• White wine vinegar
• Dijon mustard
• Salt & pepper
• Garlic powder (optional)

Steaming Artichokes

• Fill a large pot with water with enough room to boil without boiling over
• Sprinkle salt into the pot and bring the water to a boil
• Cut off the stems (the handle) of the artichoke
• When the water is boiling rapidly, but the artichokes in
• Turn down the heat and cover for about 25 minutes.  About halfway through, turn your artichokes so the top side is down
• When you can easily remove the leaves, they're done
• Remove from the water and let cool slightly

Lemon Vinaigrette

• Combine five parts olive oil to one part white wine vinegar
• Add a generous dollop of dijon mustard, salt and pepper to taste
• Squeeze fresh lemon 
• Fork the mixture until combined

Parsley Tapenade

• Dice 3 cloves of garlic 
• Cut the crust off of one piece of bread
• Cook the garlic and bread in a small amount of olive oil until both are brown
• Blend garlic, toasted bread, a dash of white wine vinegar, and about 1/2 cup of fresh parsley together in a food processor.
• Add more olive oil to get a smooth texture
• Add pepper and garlic powder to taste

We dipped the leaves in the vinaigrette.  When I got to the bottoms of the artichoke (the bits underneath the hairy fur) I chopped them up and mixed it with the tapenade to feed Robert.  He loved it!  Then again, he loves most things with garlic, especially Grandma's Humus.