Grilled Artichokes with a Creamy Balsamic Sauce

Artichokes were something new for me.  I've used the canned hearts quite a bit but have never worked with the whole artichoke before, so decided to tackle these this week.  I have to say they were a little bit of work but they did turn out pretty darn good.  I decided to grill them which turned out great.  This way would work great for an appetizer in a group setting.  The leaves each have a little bit of "meat" on them, so it makes for a an easy finger food.  Just dip it in the sauce and suck the sauce off and scrape away the meat with your teeth.  

So through a little research I learned how to clean these massive thistles.  Yeah they actually belong to the thistle family, crazy right?  So the first step was to clean up the stalk.  If you look at the picture above you can see the difference between an unprepared artichoke (left one) and and cleaned one (right one).  After you have cleaned up the stems the next step is to chop them in half like in the picture below.  Once you have them sliced lengthwise you will need to clean out the pulp from the inside of the artichoke.  I just used a pairing knife to to this, you could also probably use a spoon.  

One thing to note when you are working with artichokes is that if you leave them sitting out they will oxidize and turn black.  Similar to an apple turning brown or avocado turning black.  So to counter this have a bowl of acidulated water nearby to soak them.  I just added about a 1/4 cup of lemon juice to a big bowl of water.  

Once you have cleaned the artichokes and rinsed them of any sand or dirt, you will need to boil them for roughly 15-20 minutes to soften the flesh.  After you boil them go ahead and transfer to your hot grill and grill for 5-10 minutes until you get a nice char on them.  No need to flip them since all the flesh is on the cut side.  

While the artichokes were boiling I prepared the creamy balsamic dipping sauce for the artichokes.  To do this I added 1 tbsp olive oil to a small sauce pan, then cooked 3 diced garlic cloves until slightly brown.  Add 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar, 1 tbsp of butter and cook for 10 minutes letting the sauce reduce and bring the sweetness of the balsamic vinegar out.  Cover and keep warm.  Before serving add 1/2 cup of unflavored greek yogurt and stir until combined.  

Health Benefits of Artichokes*

• Artichoke is low in calories and fat; nonetheless, it is a rich source of dietary fiber. It provides 5.4 g per 100 g, about 14% of RDA fiber. Dietary-fiber helps control constipation conditions, decrease bad or "LDL" cholesterol levels by binding to it in the intestines and help prevent colon cancer risks by preventing toxic compounds in the food from absorption.
  
  
• Artichoke contains bitter principles, cynarin and sesquiterpene-lactones. Scientific studies show that these compounds inhibit cholesterol synthesis and increase its excretion in the bile and thus; have overall cholesterol reduction in the blood.
  
  
• Fresh artichoke is an excellent source of vitamin folic acid; provide about 68 µg per 100 g (17% of recommended daily allowance). Folic acid acts as a co-factor for enzymes involved in the synthesis of DNA. Scientific studies have proven that adequate levels of folates in the diet during pre-conception period, and during early pregnancy, help prevent neural tube defects in the newborn baby.
  
  
• Fresh globes also contain good amounts of anti-oxidant vitamin; vitamin-C (Provides about 20% of recommended levels per 100 g). Regular consumption of foods rich in vitamin C helps the body develop resistance against infectious agents and scavenge harmful, pro-inflammatory free radicals from the body.
  
  
• It is one of the vegetable sources for vitamin K; provide about 12% of DRI. Vitamin K has potential role bone health by promoting osteotrophic (bone formation) activity. Adequate vitamin-K levels in the diet help limiting neuronal damage in the brain; thus, has established role in the treatment of patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease.
  
  
• It is an also good source of antioxidants such as silymarin, caffeic acid, and ferulic acid, which help the body protect from harmful free-radical agents. Total antioxidant strength (ORAC) of artichokes (globe or french) is 6552 µmol TE/100 g.
  
  
• It is also rich in B-complex group of vitamins such as niacin, vitamin B-6 (pyridoxine), thiamin, and pantothenic acid that are essential for optimum cellular metabolic functions.
  
  
• Further, artichoke is rich source of minerals like copper, calcium, potassium, iron, manganese and phosphorus. Potassium is an important component of cell and body fluids that helps controlling heart rate and blood pressure by countering effects of sodium. Manganese is used by the body as a co-factor for the antioxidant enzyme, superoxide dismutase. Copper is required in the production of red blood cells.Iron is required for red blood cell formation.
  
  
• Additionally, it contains small amounts of antioxidant flavonoid compounds like carotene-beta, lutein, and zea-xanthin.
  
  

*Nutrition data taken from http://www.nutrition-and-you.com/artichoke.html