Time has probably lost the name of the first person to ever eat an artichoke, but they were an adventurous and probably terribly hungry soul. The artichoke in it’s natural form is not terribly inviting, and the heart that is normally eaten is smallish and hard-won.

Anyway, I love artichoke hearts, but a while back I went to Dallas on work and we ate at a Cheesecake Factory. Surprisingly, they make excellent food aside from cheesecake. For an appetizer, we had some sort of sesame-grilled artichoke. The artichoke was split in two, grilled and had the “choke” (the flowery center) removed. Surprisingly, the normally discarded leaves were slightly “meaty” and good for dipping and eating. Fast-forward to yesterday, when I announced to Kelly that I was going to attempt such a thing for dinner. So, on with the recipe…

Ingredients

• 1 artichoke
• 2 cloves crushed garlic
• 1 can of stewed tomatoes, or 2 whole tomatoes
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 4 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbsp basil
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• salt and fresh-ground pepper

Directions

• 1. Fill a pot with cold water, lemon juice, salt and the artichoke.
• 2. Bring the water to a boil, and boil for 30-35 minutes. If the artichoke isn’t fully covered by the water, try and rotate it so the whole thing is fully cooked.
• 3. Remove artichoke from water, let cool and cut in half.
• 4. Remove the flowery “choke” from the center, but be careful to not destroy the whole thing.
• 4. Preheat grill, lay the halves on a plate, and baste with the vinaegrette.
• 5. Grill on each side for two minutes.
• 6. Serve on plate, pluck leaves for dipping into remaining vinaegrette. The inner leaves have more “meat” on them, which you scrape off with your teeth. Have another plate handy for discarding the leaves hard skins.

Vinaegrette

• 1. In a blender, add tomatoes, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, basil and garlic and puree
• (As with any sauce, taste for yourself and make adjustments)