These steamed artichokes are drizzled with a simple garlic confit butter making them a decadently rich and tasty appetiser! While cooking artichokes may seem rather intimidating, they are surprisingly simple to make. Especially when following my cooking with artichokes guideline.
Garlic butter artichokes
I love to cook with garlic confit and use the caramelised garlic cloves to create a rich and delicious garlic butter. My fridge is never without a jar of garlic confit or garlic confit butter that I use in so many of my recipes including my garlic butter focaccia, garlic butter jacket potatoes and garlic butter steak bites. And now I have incorporated it in this steam artichoke recipe.
The steamed artichoke is lathered with a simple garlic butter that is made with only garlic confit, melted butter and salt. It’s one of the most perfect artichoke dipping sauces. Especially to scoop up with the tender inner leaves and dip the artichoke heart into.
The benefits of eating artichokes
They are many benefits to adding artichokes to your weekly diet! Especially when they are in season during Spring time in the US and Winter in Australia. Artichokes are nutrient dense, rich in fibre and antioxidants. They are amazing for your liver health and can even assist with digestion and blood pressure. They are also very low in fat! My mum loves to steam artichokes and serve them with a drizzle of good extra virgin olive oil and a light sprinkling of salt.
What is the best way to cook artichokes?
There are many ways that you can cook an artichoke from boiling, frying, baking or steaming. Steaming artichokes is rather foolproof and one of my favourite way to cooks them! I must admit, I was rather surprised by how easy this method was when I began to try it myself. Looking back, I can’t believe I was intimidated at the thought of cooking artichokes as they are so incredibly easy to prepare and very hard to mess up.
All you need to do is pop the artichokes into a large bowl, cover two thirds of them with water, bring to the boil and then turn the heat to medium so it’s at a rapid simmer. Pop the lid on and leave to steam for 25 – 30 minutes. You could also use a steamer basket to cook them in!
How do you clean and prepare artichokes?
For your artichoke prep you are going to need a pair of sharp kitchen shears, a sharp knife, lemon juice and a bowl of cold water.
Begin by cutting the artichoke stem off, leaving roughly 3inches of length and ensuring the base of the stem is flat so we can stand the artichoke up.
We then want to remove the outer leaves that are at the bottom of the artichoke. Do this by pulling them downwards with your hand until they snap off the stem.
Using sharp kitchen shears, cut off the tips of the leaves that are spiky as these will not be pleasant when eating.
Using a sharp knife, cut the top of the artichoke. This part is very tough so a serrated knife may work best here.
Rub the artichoke with lemon juice to prevent it from browning. The artichoke will brown very quickly once cut into so do not delay with this step.
Pop the artichoke into a bowl of cold water and leave to sit for 5 minutes.
How to eat artichokes
There is a little bit of an art to eating artichokes. Once they are steamed, you can either serve them as artichoke halves or as the whole artichoke. I like to spread the artichoke leaves apart when I am serving them whole. Begin my removing the leaves off the stem and then dipping them into your dipping sauce. Using your teeth, scoop off the flesh on the inside of the leaf and then discard of the leaf.
The artichoke heart
Once you start removing artichoke leaves with pink inside them, this means you are getting close to the heart! The most treasured part of the artichoke. You will see something that looks like it’s covered in lots of hair fibres. This is called the choke and for good reason! It’s inedible and will make you choke if you eat it. Use a spoon to scrape away the choke until you reach the tender artichoke heart.
What to serve with artichokes
There are many dipping sauce options to serve your artichokes with! My favourite is garlic confit butter but you could also create a garlicky yoghurt sauce, a lemon butter or an olive oil packed with fresh green herbs. Another option is to simply drizzle it with extra virgin olive oil and a light sprinkle of kosher sea salt.
If you make these steamed artichokes with garlic butter please tag me on Instagram, Tik Tok or Pinterest so I can see your wonderful creations! If you have any questions or would like to leave a review, please do so here! I always love answering your food and recipe related questions and hearing your feedback on my recipes.
Images by Alanna Penna Photography.
Steamed artichokes with garlic butter
Ingredients
Garlic confit butter
- 2 garlic bulbs
- 2 cups olive oil
- 6 tbsp salted butter 90g room temp
- kosher sea salt
Steamed Artichokes
- 4 artichokes
- 1/2 lemon
- 2 tsp parsley finely chopped
- 2 tbsp parmesan grated
- kosher sea salt
Instructions
Garlic confit butter
- Preheat the oven to 120°C / 250°F
- Peel the garlic by breaking the cloves away and placing them into a heatproof bowl. Submerge in boiling hot water for 5 minutes and drain. The skin will become loose and easy to peel away.
- Place the garlic cloves into an ovenproof dish and fully submerge in olive oil. It's important the garlic is fully submerged in the olive oil so it does not burn. Bake for 1 hour or until the garlic has browned in colour and is soft to touch.
- Seperate the oil from the garlic and store the oil in a sterilised jar on your countertop for several weeks. The oil can be used in any recipe that calls for olive oil.
- In a small bowl, combine the garlic confit cloves, butter and pinch of sea salt. Mash together with a fork until well combined. Set to the side while you prep the artichokes.
Steamed artichokes
- Begin by preparing the artichoke. Cut the stem off, roughly 3 inches from the bottom of the artichoke. Make sure you cut it flat so the artichoke can stand up.
- Pull the bottom outer leaves off the artichoke by pulling them in a downward motion towards the stem. Do this until you get to the tender part of the leaves. Using sharp kitchen scissors, cut the spiky part off the top of the artichoke leaves. Cut off the top of the artichoke, roughly 3 inches down from the top. You can use a serrated knife for this step as it's rather tough.
- Rub the inside of the artichoke with a lemon and then pop in a bowl of cold water for 5 minutes. While the artichokes are soaking, fill a large pot with roughly 8inches / 20cm of water and bring to the boil. The water needs to be deep enough to cover two thirds of the artichoke. Once boiling, place the artichokes into the water, standing on their steam and then reduce the heat to medium so the water is at a rapid simmer. Cover the pot with a lid and steam for 25 - 30 minutes or until the artichoke is tender.
- While the artichokes steam, melt the garlic butter in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring in between, until melted. Alternatively, you can melt the butter on the stove on a medium heat while stirring consistently.
- When the artichokes are ready, carefully remove from the pot and place onto a absorbent paper to remove ant excess water.
- Place the artichokes into a shallow bowl, sprinkle with sea salt, grate over the parmesan and the drizzle over as much garlic butter as your heart desires. Serve immediately.
