I love artichokes, but admit they can be a pain in the rear end to eat and prepare.
But, in the canned goods section of the grocery store, I discovered I can get plain artichoke hearts in cans. I find these make great adds to salad. I even like to just eat them alone, drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and fresh lemon juice (a bit of fresh mint sprinkled on top helps, too!). Or OMG…served with fresh mozarella. I’ve also used them in omelettes.
About 1/2 cup artichoke hearts has approx 8 grams fibre. Wow!!
I also discovered they contain inulin fibre…great prebiotic…bypass the small intestine and help feed “bugs” in the large intestine.
And also came across this…
I’m considering making artichokes more prominent in my keto diet. I come from italian heritage…so, looking for foods my ancesters ate that align very well with keto, too. My guess, this will do my body some good. Or at least a hypothesis. Who knows.
A quick google for canned artichoke hearts indicates 11 % total carbohydrates by weight and still 7 % net of fiber. If you’re aiming for 20 grams carbs, you’d still have to keep the serving size pretty low.
Many modern agricultural process nowadays separate us as consumers from the beneficial microbes found in our living soils that we would normally consume on our healthy veg.
It’s easy to make Whole artichokes in a pressure cooker (I use my instant pot) and then dip the leaves in garlic butter or homemade curry mayo. Love them!
All of my little family loves artichokes, buti have recently discovered a slightly new twist on making them. My husband and I went to an upscale restaurant the other night and they had an artichoke appetizer that was sooo delicious. They had cut the artichokes in half, steamed them, scooped out the stuff in the middle and then when they are ready to serve them, they brush them with clarified butter and put them face down on the grill for a bit. This gives the artichoke an incredible slightly smoky flavor. Then they put more clarified butter in the cavity (where the scooped out the insides) and sprinkled with finely grated Parmesan cheese. They were AMAZING.
This sounds so wonderful. Do you have a recipe for Curry Mayo. I used to eat these potatoes dipped in a curry at an Irish bar. Maybe I can duplicate this experience with the mayo and dip things into it.
In Italy, there is a cross thyme-mint herb that is used with artichokes. A substitute can be using thyme and mint…or either one alone. Perhaps using mozzarella di buffula (bufalo milk mozzarella) would be a good idea, as artichokes and bufalo mozzarella are products from same regions (things that grow together go together). If you can’t get bufalo mozarella,you can use plain mozzarella.
By the way…DON’T throw away the herbed oil vinegar in the artichokes jar. Keep it for salad dressing, or meat/pork/chicken marinades…or kick ass deviled eggs!
