How to Cook the First Artichoke of the Season

I harvested and ate my first globe artichoke for the season the other night. It was earthy and delicious and tasted of spring. They're a bit fiddly to prepare but once you know one end of an artichoke from the other it should only take a couple of minutes and the finished product is totally worth the effort! This is a really simple method that lets that artichokey flavour shine. Here's what I did:

Cut in half lengthways.

Cut out the 'choke' (which is the fluffy centre bit).

Cut off the top quarter of the artichoke flower.

Peeled off some of the tough outer leaves.

Peeled the stem (the stem tastes great too so remember to leave a bit on when you're harvesting).

Cooked in boiling, salted water for about 8 minutes.

Finally, I drained it, drizzled with good quality extra virgin olive oil and sprinkled with good salt (I use pink lake salt). I'm sorry to say that I was a bit excited about chowing down and forgot to take a photo of the finished product!

There are lots more artichokes forming on my plants so I can look forward to many more yummy morsels in the coming weeks. I'll even try to hold off eating them long enough to get a photo!