I LOVE artichokes, and living in California makes it pretty easy to eat them year round. The only thing that stops me is the CRAZY effort I have to go through to get one prepped and cooked… Cutting, trimming, steaming, making sure to replenish water to the pan during steaming to prevent burning your pan, removing hot…wet…flimsy artichokes from a crazy-hot pot, and THEN finally adding whatever dressing/flavors I wanted… AND sometimes I’d take it one step further and grill the little jerks (which of course tastes great).

Well, here’s the end of fussing over artichokes! This is, in my opinion, a much less labor intensive way of getting these guys cooked and tastes better too! Not to mention way easier clean up.

You will need:

Artichokes (one for each person)

3-4 garlic cloves per choke (peeled)

Olive oil

1/2 of a lemon’s juice per choke

A drizzle of red wine vinegar

Salt (I use “Jane’s Crazy Mixed Up Salt” for more flavor)

Pepper

Preheat your oven to 425 F

Next, using a serrated knife, cut off the tops and stems of the artichoke so that they can sit on their own.

Next you’ll need heavy duty foil, if you don’t have heavy duty just double up! A piece big enough to completely wrap the artichoke. (I’m using parchment/foil in one… not necessary at all, it’s just what I had on hand). Drizzle a little olive oil on the first piece of foil and set your choke on it.

Using your fingers separate the leaves a little bit.

Nestle 3-4 cloves of garlic in between the leaves, randomly throughout your choke.

Drizzle lemon juice, olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper generously over your artichoke and wrap it completely with foil. No holes folks.

Place in a pan large enough to fit the packages and cook for about an hour and 10 minutes or so (for a medium sized guy). Slightly longer for bigger and shorter for smaller.

When they come out, let them sit for a few minutes to cool down before handling. Once they’ve cooled, you can transfer the whole package to a bowl or remove them from their foil (I say leave them in their foil, less dishes!)

One awesome thing you’ll find is little delicious roasted garlic treats that you can nibble on as you make your way through the artichoke! ….And the rest is history.

*Don’t forget that when you get to the heart, it is VERY important that you remove all of the little ‘hairs’ before you eat it. They are NOT to be eaten.