I heart artichoke (plus: tempted by the fruit of... mu?)

At this same time last year, I was unaware of the hole in my life: I’d never had an artichoke. I’ve had a lot of catching up to do, but I’ve been doing my best. I started with the standard globe artichokes, then played around with long-stem arties with hearts down to there. Yum. And for the month of May, I’ve been getting my fill of baby artichokes while they’re at their best. (They’re the same artichoke you know and love, just picked from lower down on the plant; better yet – no choke has developed, so the center is entirely edible).

I prepared this dish a couple weeks back with at 12-pack of baby artichokes (see my process, below the photo).



1. Rinse/brush baby artichokes under cold water

2. Snap off outer petals until all you see is pale yellow-green

3. Trim the stem off as well as a half-inch off the top

5. Quarter the artichokes

6. If you like, keep them in water with lemon juice or vinegar as you go, to keep them from browning

7. Sauté in a little bit of butter and olive oil with spices to taste (I love rosemary and lemon flavors with artichoke) until the artichokes are fragrant and a bit soft

8. Add a tablespoon or two of your pasta water to the sauté pan (if you, like me, made gnocchi to go along with this dish)

9. Cover and let steam for a few minutes to make sure the artichokes are cooked through

10. Plate on top of a handful of gnocchi, and if you have 3-month-aged Manchego lying around, finely shred a few times back and forth on your handheld shredder. Parmesan or any other hard cheese works, too. Manchego is just what I had around. Sprinkle with freshly chopped chives. Eat. Enjoy!

I also had some sliced apples on the table for nibbling, if I recall. Now I’m making myself hungry again. Good thing I have snacks to stave off hunger for a few (not bad for eating at my desk, if I do say so myself):



Check out the cool bowls by mu (measure up bowls). Looks like I've met my daily fruit intake goals! So easy. So anyway, when I heard about these bowls, I was afraid they’d be tacky as so much portion-control dishware is. But I saw it in-person for the first time today, and they’re adorable. Clean, basic white porcelain that is fine for everyday, and the measurements are discretely etched into the inside of the bowl. I like.

Here's an image from their web site. Give it a click to check out their stuff: