An Indirect Cooking Process on your Grill Cooks Artichokes to Perfection!

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Vegetables are a very important part of your diet that provide you with nutrients and antioxidants. If you are boiling vegetables you may be destroying these essential nutrients and not receiving all of the health benefits available to you. Some nutrients in vegetables, known as water-soluble vitamins, dissolve in water. The longer vegetables are submerged in water, the more vitamins seep out. Knowing this, I have been working on alternatives to cooking my vegetables in water.

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One way to get great success is to roast them which brings out their natural sweetness and flavor. Grilling is also a great way to enhance the flavor of vegetables and attain a hint of smoke. However in this case, I was cooking whole artichokes which requires long term cooking to achieve the proper tenderness to eat them. I was able to accomplish this by wrapping the artichokes in heavy duty foil and setting the grill up for indirect cooking. This is done by placing the encased vegetable over the part of the grill that is turned off and turning on the alternate burners while cooking with the grill cover closed. In a 3 or 4 burner grill you place the vegetables in the middle and leave the outside burners on.  If you have a smaller grill you can turn one side on and leave the other off. Just make sure you preheat the grill to create a hot interior of at least 400°. (You can also bake them in the oven as stated in the recipe)

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Stuffing your artichokes really brings their flavor to the next level. In this recipe I used a combination of minced garlic, marjoram and Parmesan cheese in between the petals with a drizzle of olive oil and salt & pepper. There are detailed instructions on how to prep your artichokes before stuffing them, including the important step of rubbing their tops with lemon so that they don’t discolor. I like to serve mine with an aioli that I make with mayonnaise, lemon juice, summer savory & red pepper. It goes quite well as a dip and doesn’t interfere with the flavor of the stuffing. However you can use any favorite dipping sauce that you like, including melted butter.

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Garlic & Parmesan Baked Artichokes

Serves 4

Ingredients
  • 4 artichokes
  • 1 lemon, cut in half
  • 4 teaspoons olive oil
  • Kosher salt
  • Freshly ground pepper
  • 4 cloves minced garlic, if small
  • 1/4 cup marjoram, chopped
  • 3/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
  • Dipping Sauce recipe below
Instructions
  1. Remove the stem of the artichoke. Cut about one inch off the top of the artichoke. As you cut each of the tops off, immediately take one half of the lemon and rub lemon juice over the cut portion of the artichoke to prevent it from browning. Remove the lowest layer of small leaves at the base and use a pair of kitchen scissors to snip off the thorns on the tip of the rest of the artichoke petals.
  2. Drizzle each artichoke with a teaspoon of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Spread open the petals and rub minced garlic all over. Add the marjoram and Parmesan; make sure to get it in between the petals.
  3. Wrap the artichoke in aluminum foil. Bake at 425° for 1 hour 20 minutes or until you can pull a lower petal off the choke and it is tender at the base.
Dipping Sauce
  1. Mix 3/4 cup mayonnaise, juice of 1/2 lemon, about 1 tablespoon, 1 teaspoon summer savory and a dash red pepper together in a bowl. Refrigerate while the artichokes are cooking and serve with the baked artichokes.
Notes
  • I cook mine wrapped in heavy duty foil on a gas barbecue. Set it up for indirect heat cooking by placing the artichokes over burners that are off while the other burners are on high to create an oven type environment. Depending on the size of your grill, you can place the artichokes in the middle with the outside burners on or to one side with the other side burner/s on.

(click here) for printable recipe

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2 opinions on “An Indirect Cooking Process on your Grill Cooks Artichokes to Perfection!”

  1. What is Summer Savory?

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    1. Summer savory is an herb. It is often compared to marjoram or thyme. It has a spicy aroma and pungent, peppery flavor that’s milder and less penetrating than its cousin, winter savory. It’s a key ingredient in classic herb blends like bouquet garni and fines herbes and is indispensable for kicking up mild foods without overpowering them. I use the dried version of it in this aioli.

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