Artichoke suprise by Dara

you will need:

Full Artichoke (uncooked)
2 or more cups whipping cream
1 Tbs butter
salt and pepper to taste
2 cloves (or more) garlic
2 1/2 cups parmesan cheese

Cut the stem of the artichoke off and pluck any bad leafs from the bottom. Then cut the tips of the top leafs off (both as shown below- when cutting the tips of the top leafs off do not follow picture #1 that's to much it wont look right. Follow the next picture #2)



(another thing you don't need to cut all the outter leafs just the top ones)



Turn a pot of water on and place artichoke inside. Boil till center of the bottom of the artichoke is a darker green and fork tender. Do hot boil to long or the next step will ruin the look of the finished product.

Mean while pour about 2 cups of whipping cream and 1 Tbs butter, and 1 cup of the cheese into a pan and turn on the heat to medium low. Then cut up about 2 garlic cloves and set aside. Now turn the heat up and add salt and pepper just a pinch for taste. Then add garlic, keep stirring the cream on medium high now the heart will thicken the cream. Mean while add the rest of the parmesan cheese to help with the thickness. Keep stirring so it does not stick to the bottom.

The following is a diagram of what an artichoke is...on the inside:



After the artichoke is cooked take it out of the hot water (do not dump hot water out yet) Then drain as much water out at possible, running it under cold water so it does not burn you during the next few steps. Now with tongs (being very genital to not push the outer leafs out to far) peel out the center (inner petals) leafs (now I would place them on a plate because for the cost of artichokes I hate to waist anything) but when you get closer to the heart of the artichoke you don't want to save those leafs. Protecting the heart are tons of pokey hairs(the choke-you do not eat). If you have boiled it just long enough those hairs should come out easy with a spoon. (Remember to be genital with the remaining leafs so you have a prettier finish product.)The picture below is half of the hairs spooned out to show you how it should look!

Once all the hairs have been scrapped out run it under water to rinse out any other hairs. Then place back in hot water to heat back up, just 1 min.



Place the finished artichoke in a bowl and take the now thicker cream mix and pour over artichoke evenly. Making sure that you get as much as you can in between the leafs. Then sprinkle with parmesan cheese and serve.


Cook time 15-20 min. over all really easy


Personal comments-

It's a good appetizer and it goes fast so the bigger the artichoke the better. It's best if you also have enough cream on the side because I’ve always found that cream runs out even faster...lol! The cream mix also goes. Over all I have to give this a 5 out of 5 stars! I love it!!!!