Here’s my artichoke. We’re going to gut him and stuff him with bacon.
And then cook him in beer.
The first step is to trim. Start with peeling off a few layers of the outside leaves They’re tough and not very good, don’t feel bad about getting rid of them.
And if your artichoke has a long stem, trim it so that it can stand upright, with its leaves pointed at the sky. That will come in handy later.
Then you are going to cut off the pointed tip of the artichoke.
Then use a pair a kitchen sheers, (or, lets be honest regular scissors will be fine) to trim the pointed tips off of all of the leaves.
Starting at the outside and working towards the inside, pull the leaves outward.
Once you get to the inside leaves that are yellow and purple, you are going to want to remove these. There is a lot of waste with stuffed artichokes, just accept it and move on.
This part isn’t easy. If you are having a hard time, that’s normal. The best way to do it is to dig at it with a melon baller. And swear at it a few times to put it in it’s place.
Feel the inside to make sure it’s smooth and none of that hairy choke is left behind. If it still feels fuzzy, keep digging. And swearing, if it helps.
Squeeze half a lemon into the cavity of the artichoke.
Next you want to make the filling (recipe below).
Stuff the filling inside the middle of the artichoke. Starting at the outside, spread the leaves out and press the filling inside the leaves, work your way in until all the leaves are full.
Place in an oven safe pot, standing upright. Pour 1 1/2 cup citrusy wheat beer into the bottom of the pot.
Cover with a lid or tin foil and bake at 375 for 40-60 minutes or until the outer leaves come away easily.
Ingredients
- 4 large artichokes, prepared as above
- 1 large lemon
- 4 strips of bacon
- 1/3 cup chopped shallots
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup mushrooms, chopped
- 1 cups bread crumbs
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
- 1/2 cup mozzarella
- 2 tbs olive oil
- 1 1/2 cups citrusy wheat beer
Directions
- Preheat oven to 375
- Prepare artichokes as instructed above, squeeze 1/4 lemon into the cavity of each artichoke.
- In a pan over medium high heat, cook the bacon until browned. Remove from pan, and chop. Drain off most of the bacon grease, leaving about 2 tbs in the pan. Add the shallots and cook until soft. Add the garlic and stir. Add the mushrooms and cook until dark brown. Remove from heat and add the remaining ingredients as well as the chopped bacon (other than the beer), stir until well combined.
- Stuff the artichokes as instructed above.
- Place artichokes upright in the pot, fill with 1 cup beer.
- Cover and cook until outer leaves come away easily, about 40-60 minutes.
