Grilled Artichokes

I have kind of a long commute home from work every day, and I often spend the time stuck in the car thinking about what I want to eat and what I am going to make for dinner, which is exactly how I came up with this recipe. I knew I was going to grill up some rib eye steaks that we didn't get around to cooking on Memorial Day, and as I was thinking about sides, I remembered I bought two ginormous artichokes recently, but hadn't eaten them yet. Since I already planned to have the grill fired up, I thought grilling the artichokes sounded good too. A quick Google search (not while I was driving!) turned up an abundance of blog posts and recipes, so after a quick glance through several different sites, I decided to just keep things simple and boil, then grill the chokes.

You want to boil them first to soften up the tough leaves; the grilling imparts a smokey flavor into the vegetable, which was perfect with a simple lemon butter. Since the whole point of grilling the artichokes is to get that smokey flavor, I once again highly recommend a charcoal grill over gas. You won't get the same flavor from gas.

Grilled Artichokes
Source: various websites

Ingredients
1 artichoke
1-2 Tablespoons butter
lemon juice to taste

Directions
Bring a pot of water, deep enough to cover your artichoke, to a boil. Boil the artichoke for 15-20 minutes, until tender. Meanwhile, stack your charcoal in a pyramid, creating areas of indirect heat, and light the fire.

Cut the artichoke in half, lengthwise. Pull out the purply inner leaves and the furry portion, leaving the heart intact.

Once your coals are white and hot, place the artichokes cut side down over indirect heat. Cover the grill and cook for 5-10 minutes, or until the artichokes are slightly charred.

Melt the butter and squeeze in your desired amount of lemon juice. I like to also squeeze straight lemon juice onto the artichoke itself. Dip the leaves in the lemon butter and enjoy.