Grilled Baby Artichokes with Chef's Dressing.
Grilled artichokes are my utmost favorite thing. They can be a little work intensive in the prep but they are oh-so worth it! Baby artichokes are smaller and therefore require less actual cook time which is an added bonus!
The char and smoke that comes from grilling adds so much flavor to the chokes that you don’t really need a sauce, but I am a sucker for a dipping sauces! I enjoy the Chef’s Dressing served with the smoked salmon appetizer at Houston’s Restaurant and I’ve found my home-made version to be a perfect compliment to grilled artichokes.
Full disclosure this is a very “rough” copycat of their recipe I’ve come up with for parties over the years having substituted many ingredients depending upon what I had in my kitchen at the time. I’ve also lightened it up a bit with lower fat ingredients. ~ Robyn, aka Grill Grrrl
If you don’t feel like making the dipping sauce, the chokes are perfectly wonderful with a drizzle of olive oil, sea salt and fresh squeezed lemon juice. Enjoy! ~ Robyn, aka Grill Grrrl
The char and smoke enhance the flavor of the artichokes.
Baby artichokes are easy to cook: After a Quick par-boil, finish on the grill to add a layer of flavor that can't be beat.
Ingredients
- 9 baby artichokes, sliced in half, remove stems and the fuzzy “chokes” inside
- 2 lemons
- 1 tblsp olive oil
- sea salt- to taste
- fresh ground pepper- to taste
- 1/2 cup light mayo
- 1/2 low fat greek yogurt
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 ounce (1/2 small can) of anchovies – oil drained
- 2 tblsp fresh thyme or tarragon
- 1 lemon
- 1/2 tsp ground pepper
Instructions
- Bring water in a 8 qt pot to boil, salt it with about 1-2 Tbsp of sea salt.
- When you remove the stem from the choke, leave about 1/4 of an inch at the bottom. and depending upon how they look, you can easily peel or use a pair of kitchen shears to removea few of the outer leaves of the artichokes,
- slice each choke in half from the stem to the top of the leaves
- Using a butter knife or kitchen spoon to remove the fuzzy inside, they may not have that much of one in all of them (which is the beauty of baby artichokes!).
- Add the baby artichokes to the boiling water and boil for 8-10 minutes.
- While the chokes are boiling, prepare your grill for medium direct heat.
- Add all the Chef’s Dressing ingredients to a mixing bowl and blend with an immersion blender -or- place the ingredients in a food processor to blend. Cover and holdin the refrigerator until needed..
- Use tongs to remove the artichokes from the boiling water and place on counter or roasting pan and dry off excess water with absorbent towel. Drizzle the artichokes with olive oil, sprinkle sea salt and freshly ground pepper and place on direct heat of the grill for about 10 minutes or until until char marks have formed on the layers.
- Serving suggestion 1: present on platter while still hot and serve with Chef's Sauce
- Serving suggestion 2: slice the 2 lemons in half and squeeze the juice on the artichokes, add as side to entree
- Serving suggestion 3: serve with melted butter or mayo or whatever you enjoy!
Notes
This recipe by Robyn Lindars, aka Grill Grrrl
