Baked stuffed artichokes

I have to say, I really love artichokes, they are so delicious in so many forms. Baked stuffed artichokes though, really take the cake for me. They are a little time consuming to prepare and cook, but oh so very worth it. Enjoy them as an app or a side dish but either way, just enjoy them!

If you’ve never had an artichoke you might be confused at which part to eat since they don’t make it obvious by the way they look in the grocery store produce aisle. An artichoke is actually part of the thistle family, and the ends of their leaves sometimes can be pointy and prick you if you touch them so just handle them carefully.

In order to make a stuffed artichoke you’re first going to want to cut the tips of each leaf off and throw them away, that part isn’t edible. After that’s done you boil them, stuff them, cook them and eat them! Bon appétit

Baked stuffed artichokes

Ingredients

• 4 artichokes
• 1 lemon
• 1/4 cup kalamata olives (sliced)
• 2 TBS capers (chopped)
• 1 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
• 1 glove garlic
• 1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
• 2 TBS olive oil + 1 TBS

Directions

• Start by boiling water, enough to cover your 4 artichokes and preheating your oven to 350*
• While the water is warming up start prepping your artichokes. First you need to trim the pointy spike off each leaf with some scissors. You also want to use your scissors, or a sharp knife, I just prefer my kitchen shears, and cut an inch off the top. If you’ve cooked artichokes before this is the point where you want to clean out the middle fuzz so you can get to the heart easier once you’re done heating the meat off the leaves. As I type that it sounds very odd, but I swear it’s delicious. I never hollow out the middle though, everyone in my house is responsible for their own heart! 🙂

• By now your water should be boiling so place all 4 artichokes in the pot, take your lemon and cut it in half, squeeze both sides into the pot and then toss the whole lemon in
• Let artichokes boil for 10 minutes and make your stuffing

• In a mixing bowl, add the breadcrumbs, olives, capers, parmesan cheese, garlic & 2 TBS olive oil

• After your 10 minutes is up, remove your artichokes from the water and let cool before handling, I usually put my upside down on a towel to drain the water

• Once cooled, stuff each leaf with the stuffing and place in a baking dish, drizzle the top of each artichoke with the remaining olive oil and place 1 inch of water in the dish before putting in the oven

• Cover with aluminum foil and bake for an hour , the artichokes are done when the “meat” of the artichoke leaf can easily be scraped out with your teeth when you eat them
• Don’t forget the heart! Make sure, once you eat all the leaves, you clean the heart before eating it. That fuzzy part is called the “choke” and it’s not edible, but the hearts are delicious (and what you use to make spinach artichoke dip) so don’t miss out!!