What the blazes do I do with an artichoke??

[topsi]

Thats it really, I have one medium artichoke and havent the foggiest what to do with it.
Anyone any ideas??

Boil it for ages.

To eat, peel the leaves off and dip the fat juicy ends in butter (or Hollandaise if you can be arsed) and when they've all gone carefully remove the "choke" (ie the yucky fibrous stuff) and eat the heart.

I'm quite sure there are proper instructions out there somewhere though.

I love artichokes, fwiw :)

I like 'em chopped up on pizza, a la Pizza Express.

Or

in my mum's paella (she uses artichoke hearts)

Yum

Yum I love artichokes!

Take scissors and snip off the pointy ends of each leaf, and any excess stem until there's just about 1 inch left.

Steam or boil in shallow water with a lid for between 20 and 30 minutes until the outer leaves are loose.

Pull off each outer petal one by one, dip the fleshy end in melted butter or hollandaise sauce, put in mouth, draw through your teeth to get all the soft part off the petal. Discard fibrous leaf.

Continue until you've eaten the flesh off all the petals. Use a spoon to scoop off the fuzzy part off the top of the heart. Dip the heart into the butter or holldandaise and eat.

Oh that's a better set of instructions, Tyel

oo thanks will stick it in a pot right now!

But tyel it's not nec. to cut off the pointy ends it takes too long IMO. They 're fab. Sometimes they take longer than you think you have to test by pulling off a leaf to see if the base is soft.

ppeatfruit I snip the ends off because my mother did it...and that sharp end is pretty painful if you grab it, but you're right, it's not necessary. I usually do it while the kettle is boiling the water to cook them anyway so it's no extra time.

Do what Tyelperion says. (But make sure everyone else is out so you get to enjoy the whole delicious lot all to yourself).