Grilled Artichokes with Lemon Aioli

I’ve long been a fan of the perfectly grilled artichoke. If it’s on the menu, I am ordering it… especially if I’m at The Cherry Creek Grill in Denver. We’ve finally perfected the recipe at home, and it’s actually pretty easy.

Artichokes are a great source of folic acid and other B-vitamins, antioxidants, and minerals like copper, calcium, potassium, iron, manganese and phosphorus. They’re also considered a good detoxifying food.

Grilled Artichokes

Ingredients:

• 4 organic artichokes, scrubbed and trimmed
• 1 lemon, sliced in half
• 4-5 cloves fresh garlic, minced
• ~ 1/3 cup olive oil
• ~2 Tb truffle oil
• sea salt

Process:

First, fill a large pot with 2-3 inches of water and a hefty pinch of salt. Insert a steamer basket, cover and bring to a boil.

Meanwhile, scrub the artichokes clean. Trim the stem to about 1 inch and use a serrated knife to cut off ~1/2 inch from the pointy top. Use scissors to trim the tops off of any remaining pointy leaves. Rub each artichoke with lemon to prevent discoloration.

Reduce the heat to simmer and set the artichokes in the steamer basket, stem up. Cover and steam for 25-30 minutes, until the leaves pull out easily with the tender meat. To save time, you can do this in advance and store steamed artichokes in the refrigerator. Either way, they’ll need to be cool enough to handle before you move on.

When you’re ready to grill, slice the artichokes in half (start from the stem and slice downward with a sharp knife). Use a metal spoon to remove the inner fuzzy choke and immature white/purple leaves, leaving the heart intact. Pour the olive oil and minced garlic into a baking dish, and use your hands to coat the artichokes inside and out. Then season with sea salt.

Prepare the grill using high heat. Place the cut half down on a hot grill and sear for about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and sprinkle the cut half with a little truffle oil. Serve alone or with aioli.

Lemon Aioli

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise (prepare your own or use my favorite Primal Kitchens Mayo made from cage-free eggs and avocado oil)
• 1 Tb fresh lemon juice
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• 1/8 tsp sea salt

Process:

Combine all ingredients and season to taste.

Enjoy!

We served ours with a simple green salad, boiled red potatoes, grilled mushrooms and grilled pork chops. I steamed the artichokes in the morning while I got ready for work, and dinner was ready in 30 minutes flat.