grilled artichokes…

spring is finally here!

yesterday we celebrated easter sunday with an afternoon egg hunt and leisurely family lunch of delicious springtime foods- lamb chops, asparagus, fresh corn and artichokes- one of my favorite vegetables!

grilling artichokes is actually very easy; we hadn’t tried it before, so we were pleasantly surprised to discover how simple it was.  i have a feeling we will be making this dish quite often in the upcoming weeks…

ingredients-

• fresh artichokes complete with leaves
• 1/2 cup olice oil (plus a little more for grilling)
• 1/2 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese or nutritional yeast
• 2 cloves garlic
• salt and pepper to taste
• crush red pepper, if desired

instructions-

• prepare grill to medium heat
  • we used a charcoal grill yesterday, but you can also use a grill pan

• in a large pot, heat water until boiling
• add artichokes and cook until slightly softened- about 15 minutes
• slice artichokes in half and brush olive oil on both sides
• place artichokes face down on center of grill
• cook for approximately 5-6 minutes
  • you will notice that the artichokes seem to shrink- or wilt- once they are cooked; this means it is time to turn them
• cook leaf side of artichokes for 4-5 minutes more
• serve warm with dipping sauce

dipping sauce-

• mix together olive oil, lemon juice, parmesan cheese, garlic, salt, pepper and red pepper using a strong blender (or whisk by hand if preferred)

ps: we also had a lot of questions about the delicious lemon meringue pie that alara made. it was our first attempt at lemon meringue so we used martha stewart’s recipe- it was delicious and i highly recommend it!

you can find the recipes here:

• martha’s lemon meringue pie-https://www.marthastewart.com/340995/lemon-meringue-pie
• for the lemon curd- https://www.marthastewart.com/340640/lemon-curd
• for the crust-https://www.marthastewart.com/1151756/perfect-pie-crust
  • our pie crust was gluten free- we used a gluten free flour mix we find here in turkey made by sinangil; but i have used bob’s red mill gluten free flour mix in america and it works perfectly too.