Stuffed Artichokes

I've been traveling all week so here's a recipe I made a while back and haven't posted yet. I remember my first year after moving to Boston, one of my friends, May-Lynn and I decided to explore the North End, Boston's version of Little Italy. I can't remember the name of the restaurant we decided to eat dinner at, but I do remember ordering stuffed artichokes but not knowing how to eat it once it came to our table. My only previous experience with artichokes had been with either artichoke hearts or artichoke dip. No help here. Finally we asked the waiter, and he directed us to pluck off the leaves and put the wide ends in out mouth and scrape off the meat with our upper teeth. We proceeded to do as such, but he forgot to mention that we should stop once we got to the choke (the prickly part in the center), and I just remember not really enjoying the experience.

When I received two artichokes in my Boston Organics delivery a couple of weeks ago, the only thing I could think of to make was stuffed artichokes, so I looked up a good recipe from allrecipes.com and found this one. I also looked up how to eat an artichoke, and this time my experience was much more pleasant.

Stuffed Artichokes (based on this recipe from allrecipes.com)
makes 2

2 whole artichokes
1 cup bread crumbs
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon grated Romano cheese
1/8 teaspoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon and 2 teaspoons olive oil, divided
Salt and pepper to taste

Snip the pointed tips of artichoke leaves, and cut off the stems. Wash and drain. Holding artichoke firmly by base, firmly rap the top of it on a hard surface; this will open it so it can be stuffed.

In a medium bowl combine bread crumbs, garlic, Romano cheese, oregano, 1 tablespoon olive oil, salt, and pepper; mix well.

Press about 1/2 cup of stuffing into each artichoke. Tightly pack stuffed artichokes together in a large heavy saucepan or Dutch oven. Add enough water to reach half way up artichokes and add 2 teaspoons oil.

Bring to a boil over high heat; reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, for 1 hour, or until leaves pull out easily.

Unfortunately, a cooked stuffed artichoke is not that pretty to look at, so no picture of that, but in the tradition of Orangette, here's a picture of what it looked like when I was done eating it.

And boy did I enjoy eating it. I think knowing how to eat a stuffed artichoke really helped; I ended up eating both for dinner the night I made it, and I can't wait for the next time I get some artichokes from Boston Organics.