Roasted Artichoke
Artichokes are one of my favorite vegetables - they are so good that you can eat them alone in so many variations: boiled, friend or roasted. When traveling to Rome I try to eat at least one “Carciofo alla Romana” (Roman Artichoke) or “Carciofo alla Giudea” (Deep Fried Artichoke) a day but back home I try to make my artichokes a little healthier so I prefer to bake them.
Oven roasted artichokes can be either an appetizer or go very well with cheese (especially goat cheese), spinach, lemon, tomatoes, meat or fish - my favorite way of eating them is with a bit of lemon sprinkled on top and maybe just some spinach on the side.
Prep Time: 20 Minutes
Cooking Time: 30 Minutes
Ingredients:
Artichokes (as many as you like) - usually I go for 3/4 per person
Lemons - 2
Water 1.5 L
Olive Oil
Salt
Black Pepper
How to clean the artichoke:
First of all - pre-heat your oven at 180 degrees!
Start by washing your artichokes and cutting the top 1cm off completely and also cutting the bottom part a bit. Then remove all the hard leaves in the first 2 layers.
Cut the artichokes in half and use a spoon to remove the fuzzy part inside.
Put the artichokes in the 1.5 L of water and add the juice from 2 lemons (this will stop the artichokes from turning brown)
Once you have done this procedure with all artichokes you can remove them from the lemon water and place them on a baking tray.
Drizzle olive oil, salt and pepper on them (making sure you are also getting the area between the leaves)
Place the artichokes cut side down and cover them with foil.
Place in the over for 25-30 min at 180 degrees.
Remove from the oven, sprinkle with some lemon juice if you please or just season with salt, pepper, olive oil. Enjoy :)