One of the great loves of my life - the artichoke.

Anyone who knows me well, knows there are two things I really like about myself: my incredible cursing ability and my Italian/Irish-ness. This post, this time anyway, is about the latter.

I consider it one of the great priveleges of my childhood to have had an Italian grandmother.  Visits to her house are what I hold responsible for my love of eating – because as a kid, visits to Grandma’s meant  something delicious was on its way to my stomach. That feeling of excitement for food – especially for Italian food – has  never really left me. No matter what time we arrived, she would have a five course meal on the table within minutes – with plenty of extras of everyone’s favorite thing. In my case, that was artichokes. I would eat three or four at a clip – which is impressive for an eight year old, I think.

Over the years, I’ve tried to recreate my grandmother’s recipe many times. And while I’ve never been able to make an exact replica (I think I’m missing the special touch that only a 77 year old woman can give) I have come close. Here is the recipe.

- Four Large Artichokes
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Italian breadcrumbs (the more authentic the better)

And preheat your oven to 375.

Step 1: First, you must prepare your ‘chokes. Cut off the stems as close to the base as possible. If you lose a few leaves,  it’s ok – you want the artichoke to be able to stand upright.

Stand...and deliver!

Step 2: Fill a large pot with water – enough to go about a quarter of the way up the artichoke. Bring the water to a boil.

Step 3: In my experience, this has actually proved the most important step. You’ve got to steam those veggies within an inch of their delicious, delicious lives or they won’t taste good at the end. Place your artichokes in the water and cover the pot with a lid. After 8-10 minutes, pull off an outside leaf for testing – it’s probably not ready yet, but it should be softening. From here, you’ll have to gauge how much more you have to go, but for a large artichoke, its probably another eight minutes or so. The key is the center. It should open up and pull apart easily. Another outside leaf test should tell you for sure. Does it scrape easily away when you eat it? If you can answer yes to both these questions, you’re ready for step four.

In their steam bath.

Step Four: Cover a baking dish with tin foil and spritz with cooking spray.  Carefully remove the artichokes from the water and place on the baking dish.  Drizzle the artichokes with your EVOO – making sure to pay special attention inside the leaves.  Then, sprinkle healthy amounts of breadcrumbs all over and inside. Drizzle again with the EVOO if you’re so inclined.

Open for business. Get the olive oil and breadcrumbs way down in there. Trust me.

Step Five: Place the artichokes in the oven. You want to bake them until the breadcrumbs on the artichokes are a nice golden brown – approximately 10-12 minutes.

Because your love! your love! your love! is my drug.

Then eat! Though it might be difficult to resist temptation – save the heart and use it to make a good spinach dip. Or, you can use it to try and stuff a mushroom as I did – story on that (which warning – will require me asking for your help) to come tomorrow.

Enjoy.