Proud Italian Cook

Today I’m going to show you step by step how to make grilled artichokes, a must for summer entertaining. This is my favorite side dish and sometimes appetizer to make during the the grilling season. Present a big platter of these smoky grilled artichokes to your guests and watch them disappear quickly. I’m certain you’ll be making them over and over throughout the season.

These lovelies are lightly stuffed, not with the traditional breadcrumb mixture but with the pronounced flavor of grated parmesan, or pecorino cheese, fresh parsley and lemon zest. The grill adds a smoky dimension and the cheese mixture when melted through the layer of leaves, takes the flavors over the top!

And if that’s not enough to rock your world you can dip each leaf into a simply made bright and citrusy lemon and garlic aioli. The recipe for the aioli will be provided at the end of the post, but first lets get these artichokes prepped because you can’t put them straight on the grill raw, they have to be pre-cooked by either steaming or boiling them first.

Choose a nice medium sized fresh artichokes, you’ll want to cut the very end of the stem off, then if the stem is long enough use a veggie peeler and peel the top layer off of the stem, because that’s edible too.

Remove and tear off the small leaves at the bottom of the artichoke by hand then turn it on it’s side and with a sharp serrated knife cut about a third of the top off all the way through, then immediately rub all the cut surfaces with a raw lemon, because artichokes oxidize fast.

If you see any remaining outer leaves that have a pointy top just snip the tip off with a pair of scissors, remember rub all cut surfaces with lemon.

Now turn the artichoke cut side down and slice it right through the middle like I did in the photo above leaving the choke and spiny thistle fuzz in tact. It’s so much easier and neater to remove it all after they’ve been cooked and become tender throughout.

I like to steam my artichokes in water in a pot that has a lid. I throw in a few slices of lemon, whole garlic cloves, salt, pepper and a good drizzle of olive oil. Get the water to a boil then simmer it down and put the lid on.  The cooking time varies according to the size of the artichokes that you have, but a good rule of thumb is if you can tug at a leaf and it comes off easily with no effort they’re pretty much done, but taste it to make sure.

Take the cooked artichokes out with tongs making sure the water is drained out by turning them upside down, then set aside and let them cool down.

To clean the insides of all the spiny chokes I like to use a grapefruit spoon to gently scrape it out, like I said it comes out really easy after the artichokes are steamed.

Now at this point if you were making them for a party the prep is done, you could refrigerate them as is ready to be stuffed for the day you’re going to be grilling them.

Try not to be intimidated by the steps above, it’s really pretty easy and once you get the hang of it everything else is a breeze.

As for the cheese mixture there are no specific measurements, again it all depends on how many artichokes you’ll be making, just grab a bowl put a handful or two of grated parmesan, pecorino or even a mix of both, the zest of one lemon and a handful of chopped parsley, if you need more, make more as you go, there’s no set rule here.

Take a spoon with some of the cheese mixture on it and stuff it into the layered artichoke leaves, you don’t need to over stuff it, a little on each leaf layer is fine.

Finally drizzle olive oil all over the top with a few grinds of black pepper, you won’t need salt because the cheese is salty enough.

Get your grill nice and hot, I put mine on high, then place them cut side down and don’t move them until you see deep golden char marks. The cheese mixture will also be melty and slightly crispy, at this point they’re done just take them off  because you don’t need to flip them over, remember they’re already cooked through.

Cheesy goodness with a nice smoky dimension all throughout, delicious warm or at room temperature.

If you haven’t had a grilled artichoke yet I promise you you’re in for a special treat!

Now for that citrusy aioli for dipping that I promised you, go grab a bowl and add a few big tablespoons of good quality mayo, one smashed or grated garlic clove, lemon zest and enough fresh lemon juice to thin it out into a dipping consistency with some salt and pepper to taste, I told you it was easy!

Now go ahead and make some grilled artichokes, happy grilling!