We hadn't intended to celebrate. I had a long list of things to do around the house. That's how we were going to use Paul's precious day off. Hang up that sagging diaper organizer and Nana's quilt and shelves over my desk, but then my brother called, and really I can't ever resist the beach and a barbecue. So we managed to wrest the Godmother and Uncle Kevin away from their cooler plans, and I made ANOTHER batch of ribs, some chocolate-peanut butter rice crispy treats, and a big ol' salad. We parboiled and marinated some artichokes, made a chipotle mayonaise and headed to the beach.
I love grilled artichokes. I LOVE grilled artichokes. I love GRILLED ARTICHOKES. Paul trimmed and boiled four beautiful green medium-sized globes in salted water for 15 minutes, while he made the
Marinade :
juice of 1 lemon (about 2 Tbsp.)
2 cloves garlic, minced
olive oil (about 1/4 cup)
pinch of sea salt
ground pepper
The halved and mostly cooked artichokes soaked up the marinade while we drove to the beach, enjoyed the sun, and my dad's guacamole, and eventually lit the barbecue...this was several hours...but really even 30 minutes would be fine. Paul put the artichokes on a medium-hot grill for about 5 minutes on each side, pouring the left-over marinade into the cavity of the cut side while they grilled. Then, we devoured them, dipped in
Chipotle Mayonaise :
1/2 c. vegenaise
1 chipotle chili in adobo sauce, minced
a little tiny squeeze of lemon
So, now, here I sit in my messy house with the sagging diaper organizer, the unhung quilt, the disorganized desk, dreaming about that delicious char on the outside of a soft artichoke stem. It was worth it.
