Brushetta Stuffed Artichokes

I have never made artichokes until this past week. They were a bit harder to work with than I expected.  I followed some directions online about how to cut the artichokes, starting with removing the base of the ‘choke as well as the tip of it, then trimming the leaves, followed by removing the outer leaves, and lastly cutting the artichokes into quarters and cutting any purple leaves out of the bottom center. Honestly, after all this work, I pretty much broke a sweat. I didn’t realize all this prep work went into preparing artichokes. Now, I’m sure you can skip those steps and prepare them differently, but again this was my first time.

Ingredients:

• 2 artichokes, trimmed, cut and prepared from above
• 1 lemon, cut in quarters
• 2 garlic cloves
• 4 springs parsley
• 1 large tomato, diced
• 1/4 cup Italian bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup parmesan Reggiano cheese
• 2 Tbsp olive oil, divided
• 1 Tbsp fresh basil

Directions:

1. Place prepared artichoke quarters into large pot with enough water to cover artichokes, lemon, garlic and parsley.
2. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 45 minutes or until ‘chokes are tender.
3. Mix together tomato, bread crumbs, cheese, 1 Tbsp olive oil and fresh basil, set aside.
4.  Remove artichokes from water, drain and pat dry.
5. Plate and drizzle 1 Tbsp oil over ‘chokes. Top with tomato mixture.
6. ENJOY!