Lynds in Real Life

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Food

What Are America’s Top 5 Favorite Foods?

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What do you think that nation’s favorite food is? If you’re like most people, you’ll pick something quintessentially American, like hamburgers. But you’d be wrong. It turns out that burgers are actually quite a long way down the list. Topping the charts is a food of Italian origin. Can you guess what it is? 

#1: Pizza

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Yes, right at the top of the list sits the pizza. Granted, the US version is a little different from the traditional Sicilian variety people were whipping up a couple of centuries ago. But it’s still recognizably Italian. There’s the dough base, bright red tomato sauce topping, and cheese. And don’t forget all the other additions: the olives, pickles, mushrooms, ham, ground beef, and so on. 

Why is pizza so popular? Researchers think that it is because it pushes all of our taste buttons at the same time. You have the carb hit of the base, then the tangy sourness of the sauce, followed by the richness and gooeyness of the cheese. It’s a killer combination that makes it almost irresistible. 

#2: Steak

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Coming in at number two on the list of the nation’s favorites is steak – no surprises there. People have been making beef chuck roast in these lands for centuries. 

There’s something magical about steak, especially if you choose the right cut. The way it melts in the mouth is like nothing else. Plus, if you pair it with the right sides, you can create a wonderful meal that ticks all the right boxes. The perfectly roasted jacket potato with sour cream and a wedge of lettuce with ranch dressing seals the deal. 

#3: Cheeseburger

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Coming in as the nation’s third-most favorite meal is cheeseburgers – something very much home-grown. 

Cheeseburgers today come in a variety of styles. But the most popular offer similar taste sensations to pizza. You have the bread bun, cheese, meat, and then something sour, like pickle, ketchup, mustard, or relish. The hamburger can also come with extra additions. These include favorites like bacon, guacamole, chili mince sauce, or battered pineapple rings. 

#4: Tacos

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Tacos are fast becoming more popular in the US. Originally, tacos were only a small part of the diet. But Mexican influence on the culture has led to an explosion of people now enjoying this traditional Hispanic food. 

The great thing about tacos is that they give you options. You can dress them your way!

#5: Pasta

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How exactly Americans like their pasta depends on who you ask. But the most popular continues to be pasta with meatballs and marinara sauce, with plenty of cheese on top for good measure.

There are, however, plenty of other ways you can eat pasta. One of the most delicious is to make an avocado, basil, and pine nut pesto in a blender, and then mix it into the pasta. You can also try creating your own carbonara sauce by combining cashews, water, nutritional yeast, salt, and a dash of cider vinegar. 

What is your number one favorite food? Let us know in the comments below!

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Food

The Secret To A Perfect Steak

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Anyone who enjoys eating meat would agree that a steak really is one of the very best kinds of meat out there. If you are like most home chefs, however, you might find that you have often struggled to make your steaks come out quite right. The truth is that making a perfect steak is not too challenging – there are just a few key things that you need to keep in mind along the way. In this post, we’ll take you through some of the major pointers that will help you to cook the perfect steak at home.

Don’t Forget The Seasoning

It might sound simple, but you do need to make sure you are seasoning your steak. If you don’t, there is just no way that it is going to end up being as good as you would hope, so this is something that you really do need to think about. All you need is salt and pepper – you don’t have to do anything fancy to make a steak really sing. However, you should consider the following tip from Marco Pierre White: always over-season your steaks, because most of the salt and pepper will come off into the pan during the cooking process.

Choose The Right Cooking Method

There are many ways to actually cook your steak, but you need to make sure that you are choosing the right one for the kind of steak you are cooking. There is practically no kind of steak that won’t be cooked wonderfully using a smoker from BBQGuys, and you can also always consider using a simple frying pan. What is often a good choice too, is to use a griddle – this gives you the benefits of both a pan and a grill, and it is something that can be used to create deep, delicious flavours.

The Best Cooking Fat

You also need to think carefully about what type of fat you cook your steaks in. There are many kinds that you can use, but they each have a different smoke point and provide different kinds of flavor. There is a lot of personal preference that goes into this, but as a general rule of thumb you should stick to flavourless oils like sunflower and groundnut – the latter having just the right smoke point for most steaks and pans. Make sure the oil splits in the pan before putting the steak in – but don’t let it smoke.

Resting

Not enough people realize just how important it is to rest the steak after cooking. The process of resting the meat actually allows the fibers in it to form together more strongly. Essentially what this means is that the steak develops a deeper flavor, and retains more of its juices. All you need to do is rest it for around five to ten minutes – any longer, and it might be cold, so be careful of that.

And that’s it – if you follow these tips, you will cook a perfect steak in no time!

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Food

Are You Sick of Cooking Taking So Much Time?

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There are few things better, in terms of taste and nutritional quality than a good home-cooked meal. However, there’s no denying that the time it takes to prepare one can be pretty draining, especially when you’re doing it day after day after day. However, what if cooking didn’t need to take so long? Here are a few things that can help you whip your kitchen into shape and get a little speedier with your meals.

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Pre-Plan and Prepare

All good cooking routines start with a meal plan. If you’re trying to eliminate waste or to save money with your meal plan, you might get ingredients that are used across two meals. If that’s the case, you can use your time when cooking the first to prepare ingredients for the next meal, too. For instance, if both today’s and tomorrow’s meals require you to chop up veggies, such as for a casserole and a stir fry on two different days, do it for both days on the first one.

Use A Slow Cooker (my favorite!)

Surely, slow cookers take longer to prepare meals than other methods? They might take longer to actually cook the meal, but the prep time can be way reduced by the fact that, usually, slow cooking requires little else than throwing the ingredients in there and letting the cooker do most of the work, like with this honey sriracha style crockpot chicken. Air fryers are also great for helping you prepare food in a flash and, if you cook a lot of rice, then a rice cooker can take away all of the extra steps you would have with a pot and water.

Find Some Shortcuts for Your Favorites

You might be surprised just how many of your favorite recipes can be made a lot quicker simply by finding the right “shortcuts.” Sometimes, the shortcuts might involve using ingredients that are pre-prepared but sometimes, like with this Veracruz style fish recipe, you can prepare a meal similar to one of your favorites, but without needing to spend all that time cooking the fish in the sauce, which makes it take less time to prepare. If you think about your favorite meals, search for shortcuts online and you’ll find most of them have at least one available.

Make Enough for Leftovers

There are plenty of meals that can easily be stored for a day and be just as delicious the second day after you heat it up. A left-over lasagna might be nicer for some if you like that crispiness that develops on the pasta when you reheat it. Take a look at some of the best leftover recipes you can eat and make enough to suit you for more than one day so that, even if it means eating the same thing two nights in a row once in a while, you get the benefit of a delicious homecooked meal and you can up the flavor simply by adding some citrus or vinegar..

If you don’t always have the time to cook from scratch as you have been, then hopefully, the tips above can help you get meals ready in a lot less time!

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Food

3 Ways To Find Unique & Delicious Recipes

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Food is one of the greatest pleasures in life. Throughout human history, countless dishes have been created around the world, and there has never been a time when it has been so easy to access it all. Stores are packed to the brim with ingredients from around the world, while most kitchens have all of the tools you need to cook just about anything. Of course, though, how exactly are you supposed to find recipes that match your need for something unique? Let’s take a look!

Use The Internet

The internet is your best friend when you want to improve your cooking. There are so many blogs, communities, and other resources that can help you to find meals that aren’t the same as what you have every other night. Reddit can be a good place for this, with more than one community dedicated to sharing recipes. Alongside this, though, it can also help to visit specialty websites. This can help you to find recipes for meals like Avial, giving you a wealth of ideas and options to explore. It’s always worth trying dishes before you spend a lot of money on equipment to make them, though this isn’t something you have to worry about with most food.

Buy Unique Ingredients

As superstores grow, they are recognizing the need for unique ingredients on their shelves. This change is being fed by the diverse communities found in modern cities and towns and is something that any foodie can take full advantage of. Many of the ingredients you find in modern stores come with recipes on the box, making it incredibly easy to try new things without having to bog yourself down in research. Recipes like this tend to be designed to be nice and easy, giving you the chance to learn more about the unique ingredients you want to try before going into recipes that are more complex.

Join A Club

The ancient recipes that are around today have only been able to survive the ravages of time thanks to oral tradition. People have been teaching each other to cook for thousands of years, though this has changed for many people in recent times. Joining a cooking club can give you the chance to learn this skill by having it passed down to you by others, while also adding a social aspect to the whole thing that will make it more fun. It’s well worth researching the options you have nearby and online, as some clubs will focus on unique foods and this is a great place to start your journey.

With all of this in mind, you should be feeling ready to step up your cooking game. While there are loads of great recipes that you will already know and love, it always pays to put effort into expanding your cooking skills. Unique recipes are one way to do this, but you can also explore other options if you find something else that appeals to you!

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Food

Simple Ways to Improve Your Food’s Flavor

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You have the best cooking equipment and a reliable recipe, but your food comes out bland. Something is amiss, but you can’t tell what it is. Don’t worry; this happens sometimes, even to the best cooks, and it’s something that can easily be fixed (and remember that good food has a way of reducing some of life’s stresses).

The taste buds have five main components that differentiate sour, salty, sweet, bitter, and umami tastes. When trying to identify the missing ingredient, think in terms of these five flavors. Does the food need a little more sweetness or saltiness? That way, you’ll be able to reach for the right ingredient to balance the aroma.

With that in mind, here are some simple ways to bring out that tasteful flavor in every food!

Use Vinegar

Vinegar is the most versatile ingredient to boost a bland recipe. Its acidity can help balance the five tastes easily. Balsamic vinegar is a favorite in many households. It not only has a bitter-sour taste, it also increases the notes of sweetness.

Choose carefully which acid to use: it can add any of the five taste notes, and sometimes not the taste note what you want. Other recommendable vinegar types are rice vinegar, apple cider vinegar, and red wine vinegar. Each works uniquely to boost flavor in particular cuisines.  

A Little Citrus Will Help

Most citrus fruits can be the solution you need when your food tastes flat. You can add citrus juice to almost everything, depending on how you use it.

You know that citrus fruits have a lot of vitamin C, but do you know they’re also rich in fiber? Fiber is essential for overall digestion, and it helps to balance blood sugar levels.

The first way to use the fruits is to grind the rind and add it to anything you’re cooking. This adds some acidity and sweetness. It can come as a bonus to put on top of your favorite pastry!

You can also add lemon juice into any sauce dish to make it taste better. If you’re making anything from marinara, to alfredo, to mushroom soup, try it yourself by adding lemon.

Nuts are Not Only for Snacking

Whether you’re on a vegan, paleo, high-fat, or low-fat diet, you can hardly go wrong with nuts and seeds. They’re your best diet friends, packed with lots of protein in every little nugget. You can add nuts and seeds as toppers in your salad or stir-fry. They blend well with sweet and salty flavors.

Another option is to use sunflower seed butter instead of peanut butter. It’s excellent in smoothies, pancakes, or when used to make a delicious butter sauce. Sunflower seeds contain Vitamin E and are beneficial to the skin. Win win!

Hemp hearts sprinkled on a chocolate spread will add a nutty flavor. They also have more protein than eggs and are great for your brain!

Garlic

Adding garlic, and a lot of it, will almost always make (savory) food taste better. Trust me on this one.

Take Away

Cooking is an art, but it can go wrong if you don’t know the right strings to pull. The trick lies in understanding the ingredients to use to make the food more delicious. Creative experimentation with nuts, vinegar, citrus fruits, and salt will definitely help make all your dishes abundant in flavor!


•What do you add to your cooking?

Thank you for reading!

Food

Presentation Tricks To Make Home Cooking Look Like A Restaurant Dish

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When you’re cooking mid-week meals for yourself, you probably don’t worry what it looks like. As long as it tastes good and it’s healthy, who cares how it’s presented? But if you are cooking a special meal, maybe for a dinner party or a date night, it’s nice to spend a bit more time thinking about the presentation. 

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Restaurant food isn’t just better because of the taste, it’s about the way that it’s presented on your plate as well. If you have ever tried to mimic this fancy presentation, you will know that it’s harder than it looks. However, there are some simple things that you can do to improve your food presentation. These are the best presentation tips to make your home cooking look professional. 

Use A Charcuterie Board 

If you are hosting a dinner party and you have some great cured meats and cheeses as an appetizer, you could just stick them on a plate on the table. But if you are trying to create the full restaurant experience, you should use a wooden charcuterie board instead. You can even make your own wood charcuterie board out of some old scrap pieces, so there’s no need to spend any money. Presenting your meats and cheeses on a nice wooden board, with a bit of thought about the arrangement, immediately takes a simple appetizer and turns it into something much more elegant and classy. 

Build Upwards On The Plate 

Have you ever noticed how fancy restaurants use big plates and it seems like there’s only a tiny amount of food right in the center? This is because they create height on the plate instead of letting it spread out, which makes it look a lot fancier. If you’re cooking for your favorite pasta dish with spaghetti, for example, try twirling it around a serving fork and placing it on the plate so it has height. Even something as simple as some fries look great if you can stack them in a nice arrangement. 

Cut Back On Portion Sizes 

If you have ever tried to arrange your food nicely on the plate but ended up with a big mess, it might be because there is simply too much of it. If you are going for elegance, try cutting back on your portion sizes. Avoid big family style portions of lasagna or stew because you can’t really arrange them in a nice way. A small slice of lasagna, with some carefully placed tender stem broccoli resting on the top will look much nicer. Cutting back on portions is also great for your health too. 

Think About Color 

You think about color when decorating your home and it’s no different when decorating a plate. Consider the color of the main element of the dish and what other colors might accent it. Try to avoid too many beige foods or having everything the same color. You can use sauces and even colorful vegetables to add more variation to the plate and make it more vibrant.  

By applying these simple concepts and experimenting with your plates, you can make your home cooking look like a professional restaurant dish!

Thank you for reading!

Food

The Inexpensive Food That Keeps On Giving: Pork

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What is about pork that makes it so versatile in everyday cooking? For households that eat pork meat, it can be a staple of many dishes. Most families are familiar with the typical bacon and eggs meal that can be prepared at any time of the day and night in a matter of minutes. It’s hard to think about it without salivating! 

If you love a simple minced meat and sauce dish, such as a quick homemade tomato sauce and mince recipe to go with pasta, pork is a go-to ingredient for a low-cost recipe that can serve the whole family. But there is a lot more to it than what first meets the eye. 

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It can serve a whole family

As mentioned above, you can use pork in a variety of quick meals. It can also become the main element in your meal. While we think of minced pork or bacon, they evoke recipes in which pork acts as a supportive element to the whole dish. But with this slow cooker pork roast recipe here, you can give your pork loin the central role in your cooking. Slow-cooked meat develops flavors over time. A delicious roast can be a warm and comforting dish on a cool winter day. Pair it with some sautéed vegetables and a little gravy, and you’ve got a full meal with little effort. 

Did your pork cut have a bone?

What happens to the bones when you buy a cut that comes with pork bones? In most households, bones are either given to the dog (don’t do this! The bone can split and severely harm you dog), or put in the trash. But you can also cook them to make a deliciously nourishing broth. Bone broth is a typical base for ramen noodles. You can prepare your broth ahead and freeze it, and it’ll be ready to be used when you want a quick bowl of noodles. 

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You’ve got some uncooked leftovers: Spice them up

Spices can completely transform a dish. Pork is superbly versatile as it accommodates a variety of spices perfectly. If you want Mexican flavors, you can combine it with chili and smoked paprika spices. For an Asian twist, you can add a little ginger and garlic to elevate your pork. A warm Mediterranean meal will mix warm cinnamon and pepper for a sweet and spicy taste. For an Indian dish, you can add garlic and turmeric to your pork. There are so many variations that can elevate your pork leftovers. It would be a waste not to try them all! 

Your rendered pork fat can be useful, too

If you’re one of those people who throw away the fat that comes out when cooking pork, you are wasting delicious flavors! You can recycle pork fat into a variety of dishes as a way of seasonal or adding a flavorsome confit edge to your ingredients. You can mix your bacon fat to mashed potatoes to transform them forever. In sauces, bacon fat enhances beurre noisette or hollandaise sauces with new depth. You can even try it in a slow roast to give a confit finish to your vegetable and meat. 

In conclusion, pork is one of the most inexpensive meats in your local grocery store. But it’s also one of those miracle ingredients that can be used and reused many times and in many different ways. For pork eaters: If pork meat isn’t already a staple in your kitchen, it definitely deserves to be! 

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Food

Best Tips For Cooking The Best Pasta Ever

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Pasta can be considered one of the simplest and inexpensive dishes to make. You can either make your own pasta dough or you can pick up some from your local grocery store. As long as you have a pot to boil water in, you can make some pasta. Some recipes are simple like spaghetti meanwhile some can be complicated like rasta pasta [recipe here]. With our tips, you will be making the best pasta ever time and time again.

Measure Out Your Portion Size

I know this is a radical idea as the common practice is to empty the entire box of pasta or at least leave half, but measuring out your pasta will help you cook the best pasta ever. If you are cooking pasta with small shapes like farfalle, stelline, rotini or orzo, it is recommended that you do one cup of dry measure pasta per person. If you are cooking long noodles like spaghetti or fettuccine you can use a pasta measuring tool or you can use a kitchen scale and weigh out your servings. Remember that one serving is roughly two ounces.

Salt Your Pasta Water

You need to put salt in your pasta water. There is no escaping this if you want to make the best pasta. If you think a pinch of salt in the huge tub of cooking water is going to cut it, you are sadly mistaken. You have to add a healthy amount. For every pound of pasta, you need about one and a half tablespoons of salt. Always keep that in mind.

Use A Pot Big Enough For The Pasta

Avoid using small pasta pots. Remember that when pasta cooks, it expands. Your pasta has to have room to swell and get bigger. You do not want your pot to get too big because you could risk having your pot running over, which can be very messy and dangerous. As a rule of thumb, use a pot that can hold three or four quarts per pound of pasta of water. There are plenty of pots to pick from and you can start cooking your pasta in no time.

Do Not Break Long Pasta

If you are cooking long pasta, make sure you leave their length intact. If your pot is not big enough to get the long pasta in all at once, resist the urge to break the pasta in half. This is a no-no in almost all Italian dishes. Instead, put one end of the pasta in the boiling water and over time it will soften. Use a spoon to delicately push the rest of the exposed noodles into the boiling water the more they soften. Soon it will cook al dente.

Drizzle In Your Olive Oil After The Pasta Finishes Cooking

The common practice is to dose your cooking water with olive oil, but this is another no-no. When you do this, it makes it that much easier for your sauce to slip right off the pasta. We are not encouraging you to completely do away with adding olive oil to your pasta dishes, but add it once your pasta has finished cooking.

•How do you cook your pasta?

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Food

The Traditions Of Easter Food

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At different times of the year, we have traditional dishes and meals we associated with that occasion. For example, we eat Turkey at Christmas and also on Thanksgiving. At Easter, it is lamb.

It is something that we have done for many years, and a lot of us never question the reasons why. After all, we are simply used to it, and it is the way it is. However, it is certainly interesting to delve deeper and find out why these traditional meals have become staples for dates like this. 

That is what we are going to take a look at in this blog post. We will reveal why lamb is the chosen meal for Easter, as well as looking at eggs and their link with this spring celebration.

First and foremost, it is vital to take a look at the role lamb has played over the years when it comes to this celebration and Christianity in general. Let’s look at a few examples!

  • The reference to lamb in Christianity goes way back. In fact, it stars in the work of Genesis, when Abraham was summoned to sacrifice his offspring. 
  • It was popular superstition that the devil could never take the shape of a lamb, despite being able to take the form of all other animals. This is because of a lamb’s religious symbolization.
  • Lamb is a lucky omen. Many centuries ago it was considered lucky to meet a lamb. This was the case at all times of the year, but even more so during this holiday. 
  • A prayer for the blessing of lambs was written by the Benedictine monks in the 7th century. 
  • A whole roasted lamb has long been a feature of the Pope’s Easter Dinner.
  • Availability must also be considered. This is because lambs historically came to the market around the time of Easter. 
  • As you can see, there are many different reasons why lamb has become the meat of choice during this period. Of course, there are two other popular symbols associated with the celebration as well – eggs and the Easter Bunny. The Easter Bunny does not have any religious symbolization. Rather, it represents the arrival of spring. 

Eggs on the other hand have a wide association with Christianity. They were decorated and exchanged as gifts before the birth of Christ. Early Christians were not allowed to eat them during Lent, so when Lent concluded they celebrated by eating eggs. They also symbolize rebirth and rejuvenation.

We often give people Easter Eggs and we partake in egg decorating activities for Easter. However, you can also incorporate eggs into your Easter meal. For example, you can serve eggs at breakfast. The eggs florentine recipe here is a delicious one!

Hopefully, you now have a better understanding of the different types of food that are served over the Easter period. Next year, you can eat your Easter meal knowing where the tradition has come from and why it is considered so important. 

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Food

Awesome Appetizers- Roasted Artichoke

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Appetizers ensure meals, gatherings and parties go off with a bang. If you’ve got a house full of people, or you’re keen to make sure you have time to socialize, it’s hugely beneficial to find some simple, delicious appetizers you can rustle up in advance to impress your guests and get your evening or lunch party off to a flying start. If you love to entertain, or you’re always on the lookout for ideas and inspiration for family feasts or social occasions, here’s an awesome new appetizer to add your recipe collection.

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Roasted Artichoke

Artichokes are not the most frequently-used vegetable, but that doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t be a part of your repertoire. Artichokes are delicious, and once you get the hang of preparing and cooking them, it’s easy to turn this humble vegetable into a crowd-pleasing dish your family and friends will love. This roasted artichoke dish is ideal for small gatherings, family nights in and dinner parties, and it will go down a treat!

Instructions

The first step is to learn how to roast artichoke. Once you’ve purchased your artichokes from the store, you’ll need to prepare them to go into the oven. Take your artichokes and cut the stems, peeling away the tough outer layers until you reach the lighter-colored flesh of the vegetable. Carefully trim the sharp edges of the leaves, removing roughly ¾ of an inch of the tip. Cut your artichoke in half lengthways and use a paring knife to take out the choke.

When your artichokes are ready to roast, place them in foil and add a drizzle of olive oil and a crushed garlic clove. Close the foil parcel and place it inside the oven for approximately 40 minutes. 

How To Serve

There are endless options when it comes to serving roasted artichoke. You can leave the artichoke as it is, using the cooking juices with a splash of lemon juice, salt and pepper, some dill and a teaspoon of honey added to create a vibrant vinaigrette dip. Alternatively, you can add additional ingredients, such as crumbled feta cheese or capers, to enhance the Mediterranean flavors. To enjoy roasted artichoke, you’ll need to allow time for the leaves and petals to cool, so that you can gently peel off the leaves with your fingers and discard the inedible part of the petal. Add to a platter with the vinaigrette dip or serve as a delicious pre-dinner morsel if you’re hosting friends. 

Tips for Buying Artichokes

When you’re buying artichokes, it’s best to shop in season. The optimum time for cooking with artichokes is between March and May and October and November. Spend a little time perusing the produce aisles and look for artichokes that are heavy and large with tightly-packed dark leaves. Gently press the artichoke in your hands. A fresh artichoke should make a subtle squeaking noise. 

Are you planning to get friends or family together, or are you searching for a simple, nutritious, delicious appetizer for a special occasion or a leisurely weekend lunch? If so, why not give this recipe a try?

Thank you for reading!