Adventures in Trying New Foods: Artichoke Update

Since January, I’ve been challenging myself to try cooking with a new food each month. So far, I’ve tried kale, Brussels sprouts, lentils and cabbage. But I think this past month’s challenge has been my hands-down favorite so far: artichokes.

Yep, you read that right. Artichokes. My favorite.

I’m just as surprised as you are.

It really comes down to one single recipe I tried that has made me fall in love with artichokes and that has spurred a collection of jars of artichoke hearts to grow in my pantry.

But before I get to that, I should also say that it took a couple of disappointing attempts before I found a recipe that really worked for me using artichokes.

At the beginning of the month, I picked up a couple of fresh artichokes to get me started. I first tried out a recipe I found online whereby I roasted them in the crockpot with some garlic and butter and pulled them out when they were pull-apart soft. I put them on our dinner plates, and my husband asked me, “How do we eat these?”

Frankly, I had no idea. I kind of thought you just chewed the leaves and was ready to just go with my gut. He wasn’t convinced, so we took a break from the table and went to find out online, by searching: “How do you eat an artichoke?” No shame in admitting it, right? Well, turns out you don’t eat the entire leaf, so my husband was pretty glad he’d insisted on looking up instructions first!

Even armed with the correct way to eat them, I wasn’t too impressed with the crockpot-roasted artichokes. Undaunted, I tried another recipe where I steamed them and sprinkled garlic salt atop them and dipped them in mayonnaise. Still, I didn’t enjoy the process. It’s pretty messy and a lot of work for the little bit of “meat” that you can get off of each artichoke. Not worth it for me.

Then I turned to jarred artichoke hearts—which was where I hit the jackpot.

When my husband and I traveled to Washington DC earlier this spring, we got an artichoke-and-pesto pizza that we devoured. Back home, I decided I wanted to recreate it, and let me tell you, it is divine. I created it using the memory of that restaurant pizza along with some magazine-clipping ideas for making caramelized onions. And you don’t even need to add any cheese, it’s that good all on its own!

Here's a link to the recipe: Pesto, Artichoke & Caramelized Onion Pizza. I'll warn you that I loved this recipe so much that I made it twice that week. And the week after. And the week after. It has become a rotating fixture in my menu planning ever since.

This is the reason I’m so glad I made this challenge to myself to try a new food each month! I’m not sure I’d have picked up a jar of artichoke hearts and discovered just how much I really love them had it not been for my Adventures in Trying New Foods challenge. (You can read up on all the posts in this challenge here.)

Related Posts
Adventures in Trying New Foods: Brussels Sprouts
Adventures in Trying New Foods: Kale Update

{ photo source }