How to cook a purple artichoke

[theclick]

I love artichokes but have never cooked them fresh. I bought a few from a stall outside my office today and want to make some sort of artichoke pasta, but read online that purple ones must be cooked a specific way - anyone actually know how though? For normal ones, i read you peel the leaves off and boil/steam for 20-45 mins.

Here's how I cook purple artichokes (the little ones):

Wash thoroughly and cut off the pointy end of the artichoke head. I usually cut off about 2cm.

Trim off just the tip of the stem, leaving as much stem intact as you can (it's delicious).

Place in a pan of boiling, salted water and simmer for about 12-15 minutes, until the tip of a knife slides gently into the top end of the stem without any resistance.

Drain and leave to cool for a few minutes.

Remove any very tough/spiky leaves from round the outside. One to two layers is probably enough, but it depends on the size. Slice each artichoke lengthwise into quarters.

From now on, it's up to you. I usually brush with olive oil and grill on a hot griddle pan for a couple of minutes on each side, and then toss through pasta with parmesan, olive oil, garlic, lemon and parsley.

Or just steam them till a leaf pulls out easily. Make a dip that you like and eat the ends of the leaves etc...

sounds amazing! i read you're meant to cut the stems off, but i won't - again there's so many methods out there, i'd like some actual tried and tested ones.

You'll need loads for a pasta dish as I'd thought it calls for the hearts.
I cook them as described above and then serve with hollandaise.

Eat the bases of the leaves like any other globe artichoke.