grilled artichokes with Meyer lemon

We’ve a dear friend, Brian, who we don’t see as often as we’d like. So when I bumped into him at a party a couple weeks back, I immediately invited him over to dinner so we could catch up. He’s a lovely man with one, tiny flaw: he’s allergic to garlic. Since we use garlic in almost every dish we prepare at our house, the menu for our dinner required some thought. You can’t just serve chocolate cake and call it a meal, now can you?

The only savory dish that’s garlic-free that I make with any regularity is penne in vodka sauce. Naturally I put that on the menu. And I used real cream instead of soy milk, to give it a guests-are-over-for-dinner richness. But that’s hardly enough for a party of six. What else? I thought a while and concluded that the secret of no-garlic cooking is simplicity. So I got some whole wild caught fish that I grilled with just salt, pepper, Meyer lemon and herbs. That turned out perfect. I also prepared a large plate of mixed grilled veggies. Hegui made a lovely leafy salad in Meyer lemon vinaigrette.

We had a bag of artichokes that I thought could work. Though all our artichoke recipes have garlic and seem a bit baroque for this unfussy meal. This, then, is the simplified version. (And if you’ve noticed that the theme of the dinner was “Meyer lemon,” you’d be right. Hegui even made a lemon coconut triple layer cake for dessert. Our friends have been giving us dozens of Meyer lemons lately as they’re literally falling off their trees quicker than they can pick them. We truly are blessed.)

Cleaning artichokes are the most annoying part of the whole thing. I’ve reprinted the directions from a post Hegui wrote in 2009.

To clean artichokes:

Rinse artichokes in cold water. Using your fingers, remove about 3 to 4 layers of the outer leaves. Then cut about ½ of artichoke top off. Using a potato peeler, shave the rough outer layer off the stem and base. Don’t cut the stems off! These taste great and make the finished dish look much more interesting and exotic. Cut the very tip of the stem off. Then split artichoke in half cutting it lengthwise (from stem through the crown of the bud.) Carve the choke (the hairy/spiny center) out with a spoon or a sharp paring knife. Immediately toss prepared artichoke into a large bowl filled with cold water and the juice of a lemon along with the squeezed lemon peel itself. This will keep the artichoke from turning brown. Repeat with all artichokes.

After that this recipe is a snap, and tastes… well, I’m going to prepare it again this week.

grilled artichokes with Meyer lemon

6 medium sized fresh artichokes, cleaned as above
4 tbsp olive oil
Kosher salt and black pepper to taste
Juice of one Meyer lemon

Start by steaming cleaned artichokes for ten minutes. Remove from heat and let cool in an ice water bath.

Drain and toss with olive oil, salt and black pepper. Grill on high heat for a few minutes per side until they blacken slightly. Remove from grill and immediately squeeze lemon juice over hot chokes.

Serve warm or at room temp.