PrintDinner Tonight: Steamed Artichokes with Light Balsamic Vinaigrette
I was quite the picky eater in my youth. I didn’t touch green beans, wouldn’t go near cooked carrots, and never had a salad I liked until junior high. But against all reason and logic, I did love artichokes. From the moment I started eating artichokes, I remember actually enjoying them. Perhaps it’s the activity of picking up off the petals, dipping them in butter, and pulling off the “meat” of the vegetable with my teeth. What fun food to eat!
The steaming business is pretty basic, but I wanted to see if there was anything besides my beloved butter to dip the petals in. I found this watered down vinaigrette in Cooks Illustrated. I personally thought the vinaigrette was a little fussy and preferred the comfort of the melted butter, but the fiancée completely disagreed and preferred the balance of the vinaigrette. It was nice to have a choice. Martha Stewart, in her New Classics Cookbook, suggests dipping the petals in an aioli. Am I missing other good options?
If you’re unsure how to properly eat an artichoke, Elise Bauer at Simply Recipes has a great picture-laden tutorial.
About the author: Nick Kindelsperger is a co-founder of The Paupered Chef, a blog dedicated to saving time and money while enjoying food in every way possible. He sells wine for a living and lives in Columbus, Ohio.
Steamed Artichokes with Light Balsamic Vinaigrette
- serves 2 -
Ingredients
2 large artichokes
1/4 teaspoon salt
Vinaigrette
3 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon shallot, minced
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 clove garlic, minced
Salt and pepper
Procedure
1. Bring a large pot of water to boil. With a large knife, cut off the top quarter of the artichokes and then remove the stem. Sprinkle the 1/4 teaspoon of salt on top of the them and then place them in a steamer basket over the boiling water. Cook for 45 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, combine all the ingredients for the vinaigrette and whisk until fully combined.
3. Remove the artichokes from the steamer basket and serve with the vinaigrette as a dipping sauce.
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10 Comments:
we always dip our artichoke in mayonnaise (not much, just a little). I guess that's a little like the aioli, although admittedly it sounds a whole lot more gross. Sure is yummy though...and easy.
misskris15 at 4:10PM on 04/04/08
That tutorial is pretty close to how I eat my artichokes, but I never bother to trim the leaves. They do have thorns, but they're not that big of a deal unless you've got really little kids or want to impress company.
My family has always microwaved artichokes by standing them up in about an inch of water, with a squirt of lemon and/or bay leaf, then cover in plastic and cook about 17 mins (more for more chokes). And we dip in melted butter and a mayo/lemon juice/Dijon mustard sauce. Make sure you have enough dipping sauce for each bite of the heart!
LiveToEat at 4:23PM on 04/04/08
My wife likes to dip hers in mayo. I like a little mayo then some butter. Fatty.
Montana Eats at 4:28PM on 04/04/08
I've always used butter, but something like hummus might be good. It's a bit different, but the flavors should compliment. Really, any sort of dip or dressing would probably work.
KateC at 4:42PM on 04/04/08
i've always dipped in butter, although at a restaurant recently i had it with an intensly lemony lemon aioli and it was AMAZING. Need to figure out how to get a supercharged lemon taste in an aioli...
mh330 at 4:42PM on 04/04/08
mh330, for a Meyer lemon aioli recipes, try this one from my fave blogger Orangette (in her most recent post called "Right This Minute") http://orangette.blogspot.com/.
LiveToEat at 5:04PM on 04/04/08
Add dijon mustard to mayonnaise, then a little bit of whole mustard seeds and a dash of white pepper. The proportion of mustard to the mayo depends on personal preference. I start out with a tablespoon or two of mustard to about a cup of mayo, and then adjust. This is based on an appetizer of artichokes and dipping sauce that we had at a restaurant in Monterey, CA about 20 years ago.
ValerieM at 5:58PM on 04/04/08
We grilled artichokes this past weekend and made several aioli-ish dips to go along with it. The artichokes were split in half and put into bowl of lemon water and then boiled until the stem was semi tender. The artichokes were grilled with lemon, olive oil, salt and pepper. Then made each of the sauces with the same base with mayo.
One had the base with mayo, hot sauce and crushed red pepper - spicy. One was just plain base and mayo. Another one was more lemon and hot sauce with the base (my personal favorite). And the last was base and mayo with basil and parsley (my friends favorite). Turned out quite yummy.
enjyns at 7:03PM on 04/04/08
Cottage cheese makes a great dip for cold artichokes.
lawschoolcook at 9:54PM on 04/04/08
yummy my 3rd favorite veggie(behind 1. brussell srouts and 2. aspagus)oddly enough i love them all the same way with butter with a little garlic crushed in plus a sprinkle of salt ummmmmmmmmmmmm i may have lost my mine for a minute i am ok now:).
http://organicandnaturalmom.blogspot.com/
love2cook at 10:21PM on 04/07/08