Baked Artichokes with Gorgonzola

This past weekend was Charleston's Annual Wine and Food Festival. It is a weekend packed full of fantastic events- themed wine tastings, cooking demos, and all of the city's best restaurants feature guests chefs from around the country and special five course menus. It's a foodie's paradise really. Unfortunately, its so popular that all of the events sell out virtually the minute the schedule comes out. Sadly, John and I didn't get out to any of the smaller events but we did make it downtown Sunday afternoon to the expo with friends Morgan and Guy. After almost 3 hours of sampling small bites from all of Charleston's favorite eateries and countless sips of wine from all over the world, it was home to the couch and a movie. We weren't hungry for dinner exactly after indulging earlier in the day, but we were inspired to create a scrumptious late night snack. Artichokes are one of my favorite Spring veggies and sure enough Whole Foods had a beautiful display of them this week. I love them simply steamed whole with drawn lemon butter on the side but John and I discovered Giada De Laurentiis's recipe for Baked Artichokes with Gorgonzola a year or so ago and we haven't turned back. I abbreviated the recipe slightly, making only two artichokes, one for each of us. The ingredients are as follows: 2 whole artichokes- stems, outer leaves removed with a knife the pointy tips of the leaves snipped off with kitchen shears 1 and one half lemons- quartered 1/3 cup panko bread crumbs 1 tablespoon of grated parmesan cheese 1 small clove of garlic- minced pinch of dried thyme 3 tablespoons of crumbled gorgonzola 2 tablespoons of butter cut into tiny pieces I placed a medium sized sauce pan filled 1/3 of the way with water over high heat until boiling. I squeezed four of the lemon quarters into the water, tossing the wedges in too. I then added the artichokes and a generous sprinkle of kosher salt, covered the pan and turned the heat down to med-low. I steamed/boiled the artichokes for 30 minutes, checking periodically to be sure that it didn't boil dry. (If the water gets low, just add more.) In the meantime I prepared a crumb mixture- combining the panko, garlic, thyme, some salt and pepper, and the parmesan cheese with a drizzle of olive oil. I also preheated my oven to 400 degrees. The artichokes are done as soon as you can pull a leaf out without much effort. I drained them and as soon as they were cool enough to handle, I spread the leaves outward (careful not to pull them off completely), exposing the soft, purply-white leave in the very middle. I find its easiest to use tongs to pluck them out of the center per the picture below. Below them, there is a fuzzy layer covering the heart of the artichoke. I plucked that layer out with tongs as well. You're left with all of the good stuff- the hearty leaves with delectable meat at the ends and the heart. While the choke is still "open," I put one tablespoon of butter and half the gorgonzola into the center of each. I then sprinkle the crumb mixture both into the cavities and also in between the outer leaves as. This gives you some of the savory, crunchy yumminess with each bite. I placed them in a baking dish and baked for 25 minutes until the crumbs started to look golden brown.

I squeezed another quarter of a lemon over each just before digging in. You start with the outer leaves- pulling them off and dunking them into your own private dipping sauce of melted buttery cheese in the middle- scraping the meaty goodness of the ends with your teeth. (You discard the rest of the leaf.) Once you make it down to the heart- or the jackpot if you will- just cut it up into bite sized pieces and enjoy!

These are really really fabulous... A great first course, you could even do one artichoke for every two people in a casual setting- or as we did, they make a nice "light" dinner with a side salad or some crusty bread. In this case they were the perfect ending to a decadently delicious day.