Grilled Artichoke

 It's both artichoke and grilling season! Grilled artichoke gives you the delicious taste of artichoke with a little smokey flavor from the grill. It's so easy, the artichokes can be prepared the day before and grilled before serving. Prepping artichokes is easy and quick once you get the first one done.

Four Artichokes

Lemon or lime slices

2 bay leaves

2 garlic cloves

1 tsp black pepercorns

1/2 tsp kosher salt

a few sprigs of fresh parsley

for the grill-

olive oil

salt

pepper

1/2 of a lemon or lime

To prep the artichoke hold it firmly and slice off about 1/3 of the top with a serrated knife, it will go through the leaves easier than a chef's knife.

Snip off the pointy ends of the leaves with kitchen shears. If there are a lot of tough outer leaves pull them off.

All done with the top.

Cut off the bottom stem. Up to the base.

Make sure you have a pot and steamer basket these will fit into.

Place the bay leaves, lime/lemon slices, garlic, salt, pepper and parsley in the pot. Add water, enough to steam not to cover the artichokes. Insert the steamer basket and put the artichokes on top. Cover and steam for 25-30 minutes, depending on the size of your artichokes.

To test if it's done use a skewer or paring knife to pierce the bottom of the artichoke it should go through fairly easily.

At this point you can cover these with plastic wrap or put them in a container for a day and grill them later, or eat them like this.

To grill cut the artichokes in half, from the bottom side. I find you lose less leaves and it stays together better than cutting from the top.

Remove the fuzzy choke with a paring knife or spoon.

Brush the cut sides with olive oil. Salt and pepper then squeeze fresh lime/lemon juice on top. Grill these cut side down 5-7 minutes. Just until heated, if they are getting too dark/burned move them to a warming part of the grill.

That's it. Serve with melted herbed butter.