Steamed Artichoke Hearts

By norsegal8

Toss warm artichoke hearts with butter and lemon juice and serve as a vegetable. Or, cool hearts to room temperature and drizzle with one of the suggested vinaigrettes (see related recipes). Serve as an antipasto or salad. Can be covered and refrigerated overnight; bring to room temperature before serving.

Ingredients

• 4 large artichokes or 12 baby artichokes, rinsed and trimmed, large hearts halved, dechoked and, if desired, quartered; baby hearts left whole or halved, (see illustrations)
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt

Preparation

Step 1

1. To Trim Artichokes (see illustrations below): First, cut off the stem and top quarter. Then, to get to the heart of the artichoke, bend back and snap off the outer leaves, leaving the thick bottom portion attached to the base. Continue snapping off the leaves until you reach the light yellow cone at the center. With a small knife, carefully trim off the dark green outer layer from the bottom of the artichoke. Cut off the dark section of the top. For large artichokes, halve the raw hearts to remove the the purple leaves and the fuzzy choke with a sharp-edged spoon, then quarter. For baby artichoke hearts, just halve if desired (removing the leaves and fuzzy choke is not necessary.)

2. Place steaming apparatus in large nonreactive pot with tight-fitting lid; bring 1 inch of water to boil.

3. Place artichoke hearts in steaming apparatus. Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt; cover and steam over medium-high heat until tender, about 30 minutes for large hearts (20 minutes if halved, 10 minutes if quartered) and about 15 for baby hearts (10 minutes if halved).

4. Carefully lift steaming apparatus from pot. Use tongs to gently remove hearts. Serve immediately or cook to room temperature. (Can be covered and refrigerated overnight; bring to room temperature before serving.)