By Susan Taylor
Artichokes are fun! They grow from a lovely, silver-green plant with fabulous long leaves. You can pick, steam and then eat them. Or you can let the choke stay on the plant till it erupts into a stunning purple flower that lasts a long time. My mother who wasn’t a native San Diegan took artichoke serving very seriously. She would prune off the sharp tips and outer leaves, cook them and serve them at dinner along with little Austrian bowls filled with warm melted butter.
When we got to the thinnest small leaves, Dad would cut the choke out for us so we could put the little meaty section into leftover butter. It was practically religion. One of my artichoke plants just fell over because the growing heads were so heavy. We had them last night.
We’re still planting, people. … [Read more…]