Artichokes are in season!

Two cooked beauties! Ready to enjoy!

I love artichokes! I used to steam them on the stove in a big pot and it was a big production! Today, I discovered a much easier way! Just microwave them! It fast and easy and the artichokes come out perfect!

Two raw artichoke beauties and their stems that have been trimmed of their outermost fibrous covering

• Cut the stem from the artichoke, leaving about 1/2 inch of the stem attached to the artichoke.
• Peel the stem with a sharp knife, removing about 1/8 inch of the outermost layer. Set aside.
• Break off the small leaves at the base of the artichoke, and discard these leaves.
• Starting at the bottom and working your way up, use a sharp scissors (like this one, which I love), to cut the thorns off the leaves. But don’t bother cutting the thorns from the top 1/4 of the artichoke, because in the next step you are going to cut them off.
• Using a sharp heavy knife (like a chef’s knife), cut about 1.5 inches off of the top of the artichoke.
• Now give the artichoke a good rinse, pulling the the leaves apart to flush out the debris that may be there. Then place them upside down in a bow of water and swish them around.
• Put 1/4 cup of water into a deep microwavable bowl.
• Add the artichoke to the bowl, cut side down.
• Throw the reserved trimmed stem into the bowl with the artichoke. (Sorry, photo doesn’t show the stem.)

Artichoke is placed cut side down in the water. Add the trimmed artichoke stem to the bowl, too!

• Cover the bowl with a silicone cover (like this one, shown below) or with a plate.

• In my experience, a large artichoke takes 5 – 6 minutes on high. A very large one takes 7 – 9 minutes on high. Then let it steam for about a minute before you remove the lid. (Artichokes vary in size and microwave ovens vary in wattage, so timing is relative.)
• Test artichoke for doneness: When the artichoke is cooked, you can easily insert a knife into the stem.

Cooked artichoke stems, sliced. Delicious just as they are! Cook’s treat!

How to eat an artichoke?
This short video shows how.

A few simple sauces that go great with artichokes

• Mix olive oil, lemon juice and a little butter — warm and then add Parmesan cheese.
• Bagna cauda sauce, like in this recipe.
• Preserved lemon vinaigrette, in this recipe.
• Invent your own recipe: In a bowl, wisk some of the liquid from a jar of preserved lemons, like from this jar, with some extra virgin olive oil, a little fresh lemon juice, and a sprinkle of garlic granules (or garlic powder). It’s so simple and so delicious!

Artichokes are very nutritious!
Artichokes are high in fiber and many different health-promoting phytochemicals. To learn more about the nutrients in and health-promoting benefits of artichokes, see this article.

Enjoy and be healthy!
Leni

Kimchi and Scallion Frittata

Kimchi and scallion frittata, not yet quite finished cooking

Supper tonight was so easy and so tasty. All I did was lightly sauté a whole bunch of scallions (green and white parts) and over that I poured a few eggs that had been mixed with a fork. Then I topped the uncooked eggs with some spicy kimchi. I let the frittata cook in the pan with the lid on until it was done. While it was cooking, I heated up some edamame in the pod.

What could be easier? A nice simple supper for a spring evening!

And, as you probably know, fermented foods like kimchi are so good for your health, especially because they increase gut microbiome diversity and reduce inflammation, as mentioned in this short out-take video with Will Bulsiewicz, MD, author of Fiber Fueled.

And BTW, you can attend a Zoom program with Will Bulsiewicz on May 8. Sign up now! See you there!

Be well,

Leni

Three-ingredient potluck

Today we went to a potluck party and I didn’t have time to cook before heading out the door. Sound familiar? So, I reached into the pantry for palm hearts (from Costco), grabbed some tomatoes off the counter and pulled radicchio out of the refrigerator. Ten minutes later this plate of veggies was ready to go with us to the party.

Each of the three veggies on this plate is nutritious:

• Radicchio is a deep purple, bitter-tasting member of the chicory family. Bitterness is often, but not always, a sign of healthfulness. A deep color is a sign that the plant contains phytonutrients. Read more about radicchio and its many health benefits in this EatingWell article.
• Palm hearts are high in fermentable fiber (soluble fiber), which is the kind of fiber that our gut bacteria love to eat, and as a byproduct of their digesting this fiber, they produce substances that are healthful to our bodies. Here’s the abstract of an article that talks about the fermentable fiber in palm hearts.
• Tomatoes. We all know they are healthy, so enough said.

BTW, palm hearts are available “whole” like on this plate or “salad cut” which means that they are pre-sliced into pieces of varying sizes, often including the tougher parts of the plant. Whole palm hearts cost a bit more than salad cut, but in my experience, it’s worth paying the extra. At most supermarkets, they sell palm hearts in cans that are located next to the canned artichokes.

And in case you are wondering, as I did, about whether growing and harvesting palm hearts is good for the environment and the people who work in the fields, here’s a discussion about this from VegNews.

May you be happy and healthy — and the same for all people everywhere!