Me n’ Martha Project: Day 89, Grilled Artichokes with Lemon-Oregano Mayonnaise

Tonight I made an interesting salad from the West with Martha’s Grilled Artichokes with Lemon-Oregano Mayonnaise on page 352.

I love artichokes but they’re a pain the butt to work with!  However, if you make them right, the effort is well worth it.  Actually, cooking artichokes isn’t that difficult, especially if you’re just boiling them until they’re tender.  My late grandmother used to bake artichokes with breading and they were so good!  So far I’ve never been to any Italian restaurant, no matter how upscale, that could make their baked and breaded artichokes nearly as good as she did.  I guess one day I’ll need to try it for myself and see how it goes.

The hardest part of working with an artichoke is prepping them for cooking, which is why I recommend that every home cook have a good pair of kitchen shears for jobs like this.  Shears are also good when you need to cut up a whole fish because it makes things like getting the sharp fins off pretty easy work.

This was a nice and mellow salad.  I can see how it comes out of the laid-back land of California.  I enjoyed the lemon-oregano mayonnaise dressing with the tender artichokes and the delicate, salty prosciutto.  The flavor profile was very interesting.  I would like to try this salad again with some toasted pine nuts just to give it a little more textural contrast.  Jeff really enjoyed this and said that this was the kind of thing he could never see himself eating before but now that he’s tried it he can’t wait to have it again!  I consider that the ultimate compliment to Martha’s unique recipe and my ability to do it justice.

This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.