Apparantly it's been a decent enough year for English artichokes (although they weren't able to start properly harvesting them as early as they'd hoped - early June rather than May)

My own grower/supplier has just released a video
http://www.riverford.co.uk/produce/c...duceHeaderId=2
It's about 7 minutes long.

Great to see where mine originally came from!

Wow, that's totally ghetto. But hey, if that works I might try it. ^

We do steamed, dip in a simple mustard and olive oil vinaigrette. It doesn't contain vinegar, so you have to be quite diligent in stirring it. Delicious.

my favorite way to prepare artichokes is to steam/boil them (trimmed of all sharp tips) w/slivers of garlic tucked in between some of the leaves. then when they are cool enough to handle, I cut them ih half (quarters if they are huge), take out the choke w/ a knife & spoon, coat them w/olive oil & grill them until they get nice grill marks on all sides. grilling totally changes the flavor & brings out the rich nuttiness of the artichoke.....even better if you do it over a charcoal fire w/ smoke chips. it only takes a few minutes on each side. then I serve them w/Best Foods mayo that I've added orange zest, a little orange juice & jalapeno to. I could eat this every night of the week---& sometimes do. It makes a great appetizer.

I can see how this would work with baby artichokes (the pointy Spanish ones I'm used to) but I can't figure out how you'd eat the leaves of a big globe artichoke prepared using this method.

How do you tackle shredding the 'flesh' from the outer leaves of a quartered artichoke?

actually it wouldn't work w/ a baby one at all because they would fall through the grill!!
I'm not sure what you mean by "shredding the flesh" but I just put them on a plate & pull off the leaves one by one, dip them in the mayo & scrape them between my teeth----the same way I eat any (non baby) one.

Higher prices are almost always weather-related, but I think the weather's been decent in California. Since I haven't been shopping in a while, I asked a friend the other day and she said prices seem normal to her. So what is up on the East Coast with that?

They're not that small! (Although it seems likely that whatever grill you are using has a very wide grid/mesh/ridges)

Scraping them between your teeth whilst pulling with your fingers is what I meant - if the artichoke is cut in quarters I can't visualise how you'd get to do this satisfactorily, most of the leaves would have been cut giving you smaller and fiddlier bits to try and get purchase on (with your teeth).

Doesn't it make it more difficult?

I would only quarter it if it were gigantic---like the ones at the farmers market today (they were as big as my head...seriously)--otherwise I just cut it in half the long way----only a couple of leaves at the cut location maybe are a litttle small. the idea is to expose as much surface area as possible to the grill for smoky flavor.

Thanks so much for the explanation! I'll give it a try.

I'd love to hear how you like them! I enjoy them either hot or @ room temperature. Good luck

I've recently had some fire-roasted artichokes that were very tasty. Unfortunately, I don't have the culinary skill to even attempt fire-roasting, but will steaming offer a similar taste? Does the cooking method even matter?

Also, one of the artichokes had a delicious bread-crumb coating. Any tips on how to make one?

Thanks!

Steaming will not really give the choke any added flavor. If you blanch the artichoke (semi cook/steam) and immediately shock in 50% ice and 50% water until cold, dry the artichoke, and then you can finish the chokes on the grill/bbq. This way there will be plenty of moisture and less dryness. The trick is knowing how long to steam the choke...I'd say 15 minutes steam, 10 mins on the 'cue.

There's a great web site that gives all kinds of details (including recipes) for artichokes that's a great reference:

Artichokes.org

Another "fun" thing is the Artichoke Festival. Heck, you could make a whole summer out of festivals in CA (Garlic, Artichoke, Asparagus, Mushroom, Tomato)

Artichoke Festival

Don't forget the dried bean festival in my former temporary home of Tracy, CA.