Grilled Artichokes

Grilled Artichokes

I have wanted to learn to grill artichokes for years, and finally saw a great blog post with fantastic step by step directions. 

I won't do it the same justice that Kim at Sand and Sisal did in her post, so be sure to check hers out as well!

Our wine club had a Picnic/Grill themed party so I thought it would be a great opportunity to try out the artichokes. 

I prepped them at home, with my helper Thomas, and Barry and Mike grilled them the evening of the party.

We picked out four good looking artichokes at Kroger.

We filled a large pot with a couple of inches of water, lemon, garlic, and salt.

Then my helper showed up and I gave him the task of trimming the pointy ends off the artichokes.

While it's evidently not a necessary step, I would recommend it because I pricked myself repeatedly on those pointy ends.  Thomas did a thorough job.

At this point you have to work rather quickly because once the artichokes are cut open they start turning brown in about 30 seconds.

Slice open one artichoke and scope out the hairy choke and pink leaves.

We thought they were soooo cool when we opened them up!

This is what it looks like (mostly) scooped out.  I did a bit more clean up on the hairs after the photo.

Rub a halved lemon all over the inside, quarter the artichoke and place it face down in the boiling pot of water.

This is what the choke and pink leaves from just one artichoke looks like!

I quartered the artichoke halves before popping them in the boiling water.

I stirred them up well so everyone got equal time.

While they're boiling you make up a marinade with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, steak sauce (I used A-1), and Montreal steak seasoning.

I happened to have this one hand because my friend Vinita shared with me her love for this seasoning awhile back.  She uses it on everything from salmon to steak.



Drain your artichokes and marinade them in a large bowl.

I then covered and refrigerated the bowl and took the artichokes to the party a few hours later.

After they were grilled up, they were ready to eat!

You just char them lightly on either side at this point.

To eat, take a leaf by the end and put the leaf in your mouth and pull between your teeth to get all the yummy meat off.  Don't eat the whole leaf, just the meat from it.

So good, really addictive!



I found prepping the artichokes to be somewhat laborious, but it was nice having a helper. 

I would definitely make this dish again for a grilling party!

Enjoy!