Dip In the Choke In the Dip

An artichoke, just a plain artichoke, doesn't seem like a hearty dinner, but this artichoke was HUGE. Seriously. Like a baby's head. I was afraid that if I didn't eat it, it would clone me as I slept. So, that was dinner tonight.

I steamed it, and it took about 20 minutes. Of course the success of an artichoke depends on the success of the dippin' sauce. For this I used Ojai Cook's Lemonaise, Dijon mustard, lots of fresh lemon juice, and my secret ingredient, boiled garlic. I put two cloves of garlic in the pot of water the artichoke is steaming in, and when they get soft I take them out, remove the peels, and smash them into the sauce. They're garlicky, but a lot mellower than raw garlic.

It was delish, with a few drawbacks: the soft leaves in the middle of the 'choke were really spikey, so it took a lot of care getting the good bits out of those, and it probably could have used about five more minutes of cooking because the heart was a tad bit tough. But in all it was tasty, and surprisingly satisfying.