Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Artichoke!

Tonight's Menu

  • grilled boneless pork chops
  • steamed artichoke
  • big-ass salad
Sometime last week, out of the blue, the girl child asked if we could have an artichoke for dinner sometime. I have no idea what put that into her head, but it prompted me to explain how I grew up eating artichokes steamed and dipped in lemon butter, and her dad grew up eating stuffed artichokes, and never the twain shall meet so I rarely make them.

But hello, my GIRL CHILD was ASKING for a VEGETABLE. So I made one. MY WAY.

I gave it a good rinse, cut off the stem and the very tippy top, then took kitchen shears and snipped the tips off the rest of the leaves (that's where the pointy spine thing is). Then I stuck it in a steamer basket and steamed the hell out of it for like half an hour. It STILL wasn't quite done (it was a BIG 'choke, y'all) so I stuck it in a bowl with a bit of water, covered it tightly with plastic wrap, and nuked it for a couple of minutes more. Finally the leaves pulled away easily.

I had forgotten how yummy they were. We only ate about half of it so we'll have the rest tomorrow and then I'll cut out the yummy heart and scarf it up all by myself. Well, I MIGHT share with DH.

Punchline: I don't think the girl even tried the damn thing. She put ONE leaf on her plate but I didn't see her eat it.

2 comments:

The Raving Badger said...

Kids are strange that way. If she likes pickles, give her marinated artichokes. And not the crappy store kind from a manufacturer in NJ. I know you're in Texas from reading your blogs. There is a town in North Texas (near the OK-TX border). It's called Muenster. Yes, like the cheese. It's a small German community and they have the best in three different things: Smoked Brats, struedel, and marinated artichokes. The town is exactly 13 miles West of I-35 on Highway 82(?) which is the highway you take to get to Wichita Falls. When you come to the first light, take a right and go up about a block to the town's grocery store. It's called Fishers. It even has one of those funky German clock things with the guy and girl that rotate in and out in the clock tower. The meat (all made there) is on the back wall and the pickled stuff is on the end caps of the aisles by the butcher counter. The Good and Evil pickles are also awesome. The struedel is up front and the wine is cheap. The town has a grea festival in the last weekend of April every year that is quite family friendly.

Badger said...

Yeah, I serve marinated artichoke hearts all the time (in my favorite summer salad) and she won't go near them. She's a FREAK.

The OK border is a long day's drive from here, but next time I'm up that way I'll definitely make a point of detouring to Muenster! Thanks for the rec!