In this Three Kitchens Podcast episode, we take on the fresh artichoke, and the results are, well, you’ll see.
It may be that the artichokes imported to our corner of the Canadian Prairies are sub-par. Perhaps they’re harvested too soon or they’re actually old. We’re not sure, but we do know that the ones Heather attempted to roast for us had basically no “meat” to them. So, we reluctantly have to file this one away in the FAILS category of home cooks recipe testing. However, a cooking fail often makes for an entertaining podcast episode. We hope so, anyway! We always have fun even if the recipe doesn’t work out in our favour.
If you’re lucky enough to get decent artichokes where you live and are new to cooking them, you can still learn a few things about artichokes from this episode:
• Heather talks us through how to prep them by cutting off the thorns and digging out the choke.
• We discuss the roasting method and what flavours go well with artichokes (garlic, lemon and white wine were our choices).
• The way you eat this vegetable is, you dip a leaf in a sauce or melted butter, slide it between your teeth to remove the “meat” and discard the rest of the leaf.
Heather tells us about a quick recipe for baked canned artichoke hearts that simply involves topping them with a butter, parmesan cheese, breadcrumb and roasted lentil mixture and heating them through until the topping is golden. You get the artichoke flavour without the risk of getting a dud of a fresh artichoke.
Check the links below for past episodes and other random things we referenced in this episode.
Episode Links
~~~~
~ Antipasto Salad Recipe (https://www.threekitchenspodcast.com/post/antipasto-salad-with-sun-dried-tomato-vinaigrette)
~ Canadian Growing Zones (http://planthardiness.gc.ca)
~~~~
Three Kitchens Podcast – a home cooking show
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you’re listening to three kitchens
podcast hosted by home Cooks Aaron
Walker and Heather Dyer join us as we
walk you through our experience with a
new recipe successes and fails let’s all
get inspired cook better and eat great
[Music]
food welcome everyone to three kitchens
podcast we are are Heather and Aaron hi
Aaron hello hello and this is one of
those times where we just had to jump
on and record this beginning piece
because I had this idea this thought and
then we discussed it and then you found
I was the enabler thing at the grocery
store next thing I know it’s at my house
and I’m like well I guess I’m doing it
here we go yeah so then I did some quick
research and I as I’m researching I find
it says try to use them with it you know
quickly after you buy them so I’m like
Aaron we have to record get on it now
all right this thing that we are talking
about is the
artichoke yeah we started talking about
this yesterday and both realized we’re
slightly terrified of them little
intimidated little intimidated don’t
really know what’s going on with them
it’s an unknown because I think what we
determined is that neither of us have
eaten a fresh artichoke no we’ve only
ever had the small hearts that are in a
jar or a can mhm I do enjoy them on
salad or something like that yeah you
made that really good salad that had
them in it with the meat and the Pharaoh
and the Pharaoh it was a grainy salad oh
yeah that was that did have artichokes
it’s kind of um Cal
in Mediterranean cooking probably
because they are grown in France Spain
Italy and they have they were brought
over to California by French and Spanish
settlers in the 19th century a but
they’re recorded in history as far back
as the Romans a Roman naturalist in 77
ad called them Earth’s
monstrosities and CU he had to cook them
he was probably maybe he had to cook
them and he’s like this is a monstrosity
because they take some prep okay so this
is what you’ve signed yourself up for
Heather yeah okay so let’s just what is
an artichoke I had thought it was from a
cactus it’s not it’s a thistle oh got
some similarities there it’s a thistle
plants immature flower Bud that is one
hell of a thistle it must be
massive that’s a big when thing blooms
it would be bigger than your head all
right so have have you seen a globe
thistle you bet I have here they’re
gorgeous I know they have those
beautiful purple when they open up they
look like a kind of I don’t know it’s
circular yeah though not it’s not is it
prickly I guess it must be it’s like a
covid
ball
like too soon for that reference no
people like what’s Co I don’t remember
that I don’t know what you’re talking
about they’re gorgeous I I have
considered stealing some of them off of
neighboring plants so that they can be
in my garden because I really love the
way a globe this one looks I know
they’re really pretty I should put one
in my garden yeah they’re great an
artichoke is from a type of globe
thistle I know you’re going to ask so
the botanical name is it something
or other I’ll probably say it wrong
sinara
cardunculus okay well these if you as I
was were curious about whether you could
grow artichokes in your garden probably
not I’m I’m thinking it’s a no if you
hit a super super hot year maybe cuz
they grow in zones 5 through 11 and we
are on a good day a four maybe right
they are kind of modifying that though I
heard a recent news report because they
base your growing zone on like a 30-year
moving average and it hasn’t been
updated for 10 years I thought it was
because didn’t we used to be a three and
now we’re a four like in the past couple
years oh yeah they’re they’re noticing
changes because of climate change for
sure they haven’t done a like a good
update on it though in 10 years for
Canada I believe because we use a
different system than the United States
does for determining our growing zones
okay I was listening to something on the
news about that so who knows maybe
artichokes are in our future so maybe we
could grow it as an annual it probably
would not live perally through the
winter but totally who knows I just want
to grow one to bloom one to be honest
with you I don’t even care what it
tastes like right now I want to see this
giant ass thistle I think when it opens
up and blooms it would be purple like
that globe thisle that we’re thinking of
the little one but this would be much
bigger oh that sounds fantastic I know
sounds cool if I had to walk through a
field of those I probably wouldn’t have
nice things to say about them so maybe
they are a bit of a monstrosity yeah I
think they’re probably a big plant and
if you were the person to harvest them I
bet they have prickly leaves just like
the thistles do here yeah I think it
would not be a fun job okay so as you
can guess since we’re talking about a
thorny thistle plant there’s some things
you got to do before you can eat such
things which makes you wonder who in the
world thought originally let’s try to
eat that someone’s starving maybe I was
going to say this sounds like
desperation that drove someone to eat
this giant thistle that flower that
thistle plant looks good let’s TR wonder
if we ate it before it bloomed okay so
it has outer leaves that are called
brats and they have thorns on the tips
which you can feel okay probably felt it
when you picked it up in the grocery
store they have little thorny tips on
the outer leaves okay which you have to
snip off the base of those leaves are
edible and as are the inner leaves so
once you get into the thing those are
also edible underneath the leaves
there’s this hairy looking sort of
Center bit looks fibrous have you opened
it up yet no no no I don’t want to do
that before I’m ready to cook it but I
really want to know what this thing
looks like because I actually didn’t
realize it was there until you told me
so now I feel like it’s this prize in
the cereal for me oh see this thing the
hairy looking bit is the choke so you
have to take that out because it is not
edible okay and then below that is the
heart which is considered the best part
and that’s usually the little part that
is in the cans that we like to eat yeah
and the inside of the stem is also
edible you cut off the thorns on the
tips of those outer leaves you cut off
the top I think it depends on how you’re
cooking it okay you have to dig out that
choke that hairy choke bit that I was
talking about the prize in the middle
yeah okay so I hope that explains kind
of the prep you can steam the whole the
thing whole or you can bake boil braze
grill or roast ARA chokes I have some
options okay you got lots to work with
here are a few tips for shopping for
them of course you didn’t have the
benefit of this knowledge when you were
came acrossing at the store but for
someone listening here’s what I’ve herd
uh you want deep green tight leaves you
can tell that it’s nice and firm and
tight together okay you want it to feel
kind of heavy for its size so it looks
small but you pick it up and you’re like
oh that’s got some weight to it okay and
here’s one of these descriptions that
makes me oh yes I don’t know it says if
you kind of press on the leaves so like
squeeze it a little bit it should sound
squeaky not spongy
I don’t know and a hush Falls over the
crowd
exactly okay so this is one of those
things where it’s like I’m really
disappointed you didn’t send me these
tips while I was at the store so I I
could stand there which one of these is
squeaky no this is spongy and to be
honest I read that I haven’t yet gone I
popped them in the fridge I did read
this tip just slice off the very tip of
that stem sprinkle it with water put
them in a plastic bag kind of wrap them
in a plastic bag and put it in the
fridge so I did that already so that
they’re in there and I didn’t think to
squeeze and check the squeaky and Andor
spongy so I feel like I may roast them
because to me just steaming seems a
little blah I think you could put more
flavor with it we love a good roasted
veggie exactly that’s kind of up our
alley too yeah I think you’ll get a bit
more flavor yeah exactly because it’s
Mediterranean maybe garlic lemon salted
lemon maybe salted lemon maybe in there
I don’t know what they interesting I
mean obviously I’ve eaten the ones in
the can or the jar but it’s not going to
taste like a fresh one so I don’t really
know what it should taste like no eating
them eating them is I’ve got thoughts
about that one I’m not sure how it’s
going to work like if you’re cutting
them in half and then roasting them like
are you still pulling them apart mhm and
scraping them I’m yeah
okay I asked that question because I
remember this memory of being like a
teenager and being at a friend’s house
and her parents had like some friends
over there were it was like an adult
dinner party happening and I saw them
eating artichokes they had made and you
take the leaf and you dip it in butter
and then you just slide it through your
teeth and you eat just the fleshy part
of the leaf but you don’t eat the whole
thing and I remember thinking like what
a waste cuz then they just TOS that bit
aside and I was like I don’t get it what
a weird food yeah and so when I saw on
Instagram this person roasting them and
lots of people commenting saying oh I’m
going to try that that’s such a great
way to eat them blah blah blah and I
thought oh okay everybody seems to think
this is a good idea and so I asked the
question in the comments I said do you
do you eat the whole leaves when you
roast them or what’s happening here the
author was very nice and responded to me
and said no no you still scraped the
fleshy bit off with your teeth H still
seems weird to
me but we’re going to give it a try
definitely a whole new experience I am
so glad that uh I found these for you
today it’s going to be something very
fun to try I really don’t know what to
expect I know I feel like listeners who
are familiar are like oh my where what
rock do you people live under eaten art
joke here’s my here’s my defense of our
ignorance our geographic region
doesn’t support the growing of them and
if you have to cook them right after
harvesting them they’re not something
that we’ve had around or available very
much so I think it’s I think it’s fair
for us to be bumpkins about
this well whatever the reason we are
what we are and now we’re changing it
cuz we’re going to try them this is
going to be great and the season is
short folks so if you’re wanting to try
maybe as soon as you finish listening to
this this
episode run out to the store because I
think it’s through May is kind of the
season right yeah well maybe depending
where you live but this the ones that we
get I think probably most mostly from
California that’s the season so cool
let’s give artichokes a try listener if
you’re into all the fresh spring veggies
go back to this time last year Season 3
Episode 39 where we tried cooking
fiddleheads those are those little curly
fronds from the fern plant they’re so
delicious and you can eat them in a
salad or you can bake them into a tart
as we did Aon even put them in kiche
those recipes are on the website and of
course you can listen to the episode on
your favorite podcast player or
www.re kitchens podcast.com okay let’s
get back to the
artichoke does the word artichoke
trigger you now Heather artichoke let’s
talk about artichoke shall we so as we
had said before you and I never eaten a
fresh artia choke and we’ never cook to
Fresh artichoke mhm so here we go down
this path of trying this out I followed
instructions for prepping the artichoke
cut off kind of like the very top bit
right right yeah at the bottom you can
cut off the stem or not I did because I
was following a set of instructions and
it said to cut off the stem so I just
did did then you kind of break off the
few smallest leaves at the very bottom
where the stem is and then with all the
other leaves you can feel there’s like a
little Thorn on the top of them they’re
very prickly so you snip with scissor
kitchen scissors just go around and snip
all the leaves so they’re flat across
and that you’ve snipped off the sharp
Point okay then they can Brown quite
easily so take a half a lemon rub it all
around on all those cut edges and the
top to try to keep it from browning
while you do the rest so depending how
many you’ve got you might need some time
simple enough then for the recipe that I
was looking at to roast them you’re
going to cut them in half lengthwise
open them up now there is a fibrous
looking bit you can see it it’s what
would if you left it on the plant it
would become the flower okay yes it is
like a hairy little thing that’s the
choke and you use a pairing knife and
you get in you dig it out take that bit
out and then I get some conflicting sort
of information okay it’s like take out
the first few leaves that are kind of
like in the middle and attached to the
choke part oh so you end up with sort of
like a little cavity inside the half
right yeah you’ve scooped out that
little bit I didn’t know how far to go
with taking out those few leaves so I
just kind of used my judgment why are
you recommended to take those leaves so
I’m not sure okay they do seem there’s
nothing to them like they’re just thin
like didn’t appear to be anything
there’s nothing meaty or meaty or edible
on them so maybe that’s why cuz they’re
just they surround the choke part and
maybe that they’re just not so edible I
don’t know sure so I did that and then
placed them in a baking dish cut sides
up I had put a clove of garlic
and a piece of lemon in the middle of
each one drizzle with olive oil put a
little splash of white wine I had
cooking Cherry so I put that in the
bottom of my dish okay salt and pepper
over everything close it cover the whole
dish with foil I did parchment and then
wrapped it in foil and put it in the
oven say 350 and you’re going to roast
them okay then they’re supposed to be
tender like fork tender when they’re
done which part is supposed to be Fork
tend which part I don’t know because
there’s nothing really to it yeah so
it’s like which Leaf which Leaf is fork
tender I’m like well one of my testing
here again use your best
judgment I got to the point where I
think they were in about 30 to 40
minutes and I was like well they must be
done so I take them out and the leaves
should also just pull Away really easily
now you don’t have to pull on them which
they did they came off super they were
soft at the base and super easy dip them
either in some melted butter or you know
little more olive oil with lemon juice
or whatever you you like mash up that
garlic that lemon juice with it yeah
that’s kind of what I did I just did a
little extra olive oil put one of those
clothes of garlic into the dish and
mashed it up in a little splash of lemon
juice I did exactly that did it grape it
your teeth over it at the bottom of the
leaf yeah yeah at the bottom of the leaf
to get the what I’m putting in my finger
quotations meat I must have tried every
leaf of those two halves of hard chokes
I don’t think I found more than a little
speck of what I might call meat
yeah how about you it seemed like
something was missing the meat that
would be the part we were expecting to
eat
yes yes I don’t think it’s because of
lack of skill or effort on your part I’m
going to say that this is maybe the
result of getting something shipped here
that isn’t the most shelf stable food to
begin with and maybe they’ve bred it now
so that these last longer or maybe they
harvest them earlier or they’re
something in the process of getting them
from point A to point B that maybe this
part of the plant that we’re expecting
to eat hasn’t really even developed yet
I don’t know it seemed more like the
only part that was edible was sort of
the the base right where the stem
connected which should be the heart
which should be the heart but it was
more just like a layer yeah I know what
was so funny was you texted me cuz I I
don’t remember the exact exchange but we
had some words and then I was like I
don’t understand what I’m eating because
I’m not eating anything that’s was
basically what I was saying and you’re
like where’s the heart question mark
exclamation mark and I was like yeah
exactly yeah I I don’t know I’m going to
put a hefty bet that we’re not getting
great artti of chokes here in Alberta
Canada otherwise the small should we say
tidbits of meat again with the air
quotes that did come off I loved the
lemon and the pepper and the garlic with
those little bits and all of those
flavors went together really good and it
tasted like an artichoke like one that
you would eat like as soon as we as soon
as I dug into it and I smelt it I was
like ah yes this is an artichoke flavor
SL taste it’s not very strong it’s very
mild yeah green vegetable flip like like
it tastes like it would lend itself well
to being pickled mhm it’s not crunchy
yeah I mean it’s there’s nothing much
going on yeah the other thing I will say
about this having now attempted to eat a
fresh Arch choke which I’d never done
that feeling of sliding a leaf between
my teeth just the thought of it oh my
God I it’s it’s all wrong it’s all wrong
like that should not be a thing that you
do and so you know what’s really funny
felt awful I can’t even I would never
attempt it again even with a good art of
Choke I just that feeling like that that
leaf passing between my teeth oh I just
can’t yuck it’s not a great and it
definitely there wasn’t like any payoff
or reward for us in doing it so it felt
very like this is just uncomfortable and
slightly unenjoyable
MH my husband came and was like well
what are you trying to do here like why
aren’t you eating it and I’m like so I
was trying to explain like what you’re
supposed to do and he said I just that
is no why I don’t even understand why
you would do that I said do you want to
try it and he’s like no I don’t and he
just left he was not even going to he
why why this whole I it’s so funny
because I would never have said I have
like sensory issues but every so often
we come across something where I’m like
oh I can’t nope nope nope no NOP nope
that was so funny so anyway then I
attempted a second thing just so that we
could we could have something with arti
jokes to recommend I still don’t know if
it’s like high on the recommendation
list but this is with canned artichoke
hearts yeah let’s say you you’ve only
ever put them on a salad that was me um
you want to try something different with
them yeah this is putting those canned
artichoke carts in a dish I used a pie
plate going to bake it in the oven so
you can put on top a breadcrumb mixture
with some Parmesan cheese and some fresh
parsley some kind of melty cheese on top
I got an idea and then I just sort of
made up my own and I put roasted lentils
with my breadcrumb melted butter fresh
parsley garlic mixture um put that on
top and then I did a bit of I think it
was havarti cheese that I happened to
have and I put that on top and kind of
melted the whole thing in the oven and I
wouldn’t say it’s like anything amazing
but if you want that artichoke flavor
mhm you get it from the canned Hearts I
took those out of the can and I looked
at them in a new light because I was
like how did they get this where did
this come from yes
exactly I really have this strong
feeling that it’s either under developed
or overdeveloped by the time it gets to
us at the store because there was just
yeah nothing to it even though it was
like softball size like it was fairly
yeah it was fairly empty on the inside
though and the leaves were mostly just
Leaf there was no flesh to the leaf it
was very flat and
uninspiring yeah by the time you dig
that choke part out there’s nothing left
to it really did you take a picture of
the choke I was kind of hoping that you
would send a choke with me because I
wanted to see this little furball in the
inside for some reason oh well once you
dig it out it’s all just kind of and
when I talk about hay it reminds me um
of the sort of texture of on corn the
silky stuff oh okay yeah it’s kind of
like that except that it’s Compact and
you kind of dig it out and then it’s
these short hairs but it’s kind of like
that it’s like this it’s not
Pokey okay I really enjoyed it I loved
those little lentils on there I think
I’m going to make my salad tonight with
roasted lentils on it so they’re just a
nice crunch they are really super
flavorful too yeah and a little bit more
than a like a I kind of mixed it with
breadcrumbs which gave it a different
texture no I thought all the flavors in
there were very good and these were not
they were not brinded I did look at the
can they’re just in water oh okay so
that is the flavor that is what an arch
choke tastes like if if somebody else is
going to cook it and knows what they’re
doing and knows it’s a good product I’m
not going to pull it off my with my
teeth I’m not doing that well I’m sure
you could just use a spoon to just scrap
take that yeah take that meat off yeah
it’s such a strange when you really
think about that and how they’re eaten
it is a really strange vegetable well as
I was eating the lack of arch choke I
thought to myself there was no starving
farmer eating
this it had to be much
better than this for someone to be like
yes we should continue eating and
growing these giant thistles for
food kind of like it fools you what’s
that it’s like a trick a trickst makes
you think you’re getting gonna get
something there’s nothing in
it like oh I went to all that effort and
I’m still hungry better luck next time
I’ll try to get a more a winning recipe
for my next
episode you know what it’s always a good
learning experience whether it’s a good
thing that you write home about or what
the hell is
this thanks for
trying a for effort well thank you I
appreciate that I’ll take that a and now
for the fine print links to recipes and
other things we talked about in this
episode can be found in the show notes
or on our website
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listening I was just really disappointed
yeah too bad