Baked Artichokes with Garlic and Parsley
The simplest way to eat artichokes: halved, into the oven, with garlic, parsley, olive oil and a squeeze of lemon. No coating, no frying — the oven concentrates the flavour, the centre goes creamy and the leaf tips crisp up.
The two oven stages are the whole trick: covered first, so the artichokes' own steam cooks the inside without drying it, then uncovered so the edges brown. The other three preparations: crumbed and fried, stuffed and baked and pickled for the pantry.
Ingredients
- 4 large artichokes
- 1 lemon
- 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- Salt and black pepper
Method
- 1
Heat the oven to 200 °C. Trim the artichokes: pull off the toughest outer leaves and cut off the top third.
- 2
Halve them lengthwise and scrape out the hairy choke in the middle with a teaspoon. Rub every cut surface with half a lemon.
- 3
Lay them cut side up in a dish, brush with half of the oil and season with salt and pepper.
- 4
Cover the dish with foil and bake for 20 minutes: the trapped steam cooks the inside without drying it out.
- 5
Mix the garlic with the parsley and the remaining oil. Take off the foil, spread the mixture over the cut surfaces and bake for another 15 minutes, uncovered, until the edges brown.
- 6
Serve hot or warm, with lemon wedges. You scrape the flesh off the base of each leaf with your teeth; the heart is eaten whole.