Difficulty Level Easy

My mother is what is called a good plain cook, meaning she cooks well, but not elaborately. My father and brother were both very picky eaters, so there wasn't much point in her trying out new things, especially vegetables. Carrots, potatoes, beets, rutabagas, tomatoes, the occasional broccoli was pretty standard fare in our house, but artichokes? Nope. I was sixteen before I saw someone eat an artichoke and that was in a restaurant in London where I was visiting with my parents and best friend. A man seated at the next table was happily peeling off artichoke leaves and dipping them in butter. None of us had any experience of this, and I'm afraid we gawped at the poor man.

A number of years later I was working for a theatre specializing in contemporary music and one of the composers invited me to dinner. She was, one might say, fashionably bohemian, and dinner consisted solely of artichokes, butter and lemon which we ate while lounging on pillows on the floor. Thanks to my previous gawping, I knew what to do, and it was then I discovered my love of artichokes.

Over the years I've cooked artichokes in a number of ways, but I've never grilled them before. This method works really well with baby artichokes because they are softer and easier to peel than larger artichokes, and the choke part is less developed. The artichokes I used barely had any choke at all, so I just left them as they were. My husband absolutely loved them cooked this way, and I'll be doing it more often.

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