How to prepare purple artichokes

649K 44.1 February 26^th 2016

For 1 artichoke, you will need:

Preparation	Resting	Start to finish
14 min.	5 min.	19 min.

1: Begin by pulling the leaves off the stalk and from around the raw artichoke.
You can do this by hand...
2: ...or with a knife. The important thing is to break the leaves off at the base, leaving only the tender part. The rest of the leaf should be discarded.
Turn the artichoke as you work...
3: ...until you reach the very tender leaves in the centre.
4: Cut off the remaining leaves.
5: Then trim off the end of the stalk.
6: Peel the stalk, using a vegetable peeler, working upwards towards the base of the artichoke.
7: Once again, turn the artichoke as you work.
When you have peeled it all round, the artichoke is ready.
8: Plunge it immediately into a bowl of cold water with a little lemon juice added or a pinch of vitamin c.
This is to stop the artichoke turning brown, as it will oxidize very quickly.
9: Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and tip in the artichoke hearts. Leave to cook until the bases are tender (a knife blade should go through them easily). This will take about 5 minutes.
10: Remove from the cooking water and plunge into the cold water to stop the cooking.
11: Once cooled and drained, you can use the artichokes whole or cut into pieces, depending on your recipe.
12: This short video will take you through all the steps again.

Even better than lemon juice for the soaking water, use vitamin C if you can.

April 20^th 2024.