Deep fried baby artichokes with garlic lemon aioli

Our community has been busy tending their victory gardens while we are in Shelter in Place. The result: bounty galore that is being shared! The latest gift was a basket full of baby artichokes -- paired with the lemons from our urban farm and garden, I wanted to put together a very simple appetizer to enjoy on the deck with a glass of wine!

The aioli is completely flexible -- I like the garlic lemon combination, but you can spice it up with a Sriracha aioli, keep it creamy with blue cheese, or if you really want to keep things light, just omit the aioli and squeeze some fresh lemon juice and sprinkle with some Maldon salt flakes!

Let's make this!

Here is what you will need:

Artichokes:

• 12 Baby Artichokes (use artichokes before the choke starts to develop)

• 1 Lemon (zested and cut in half)

• 1/2 cup, chopped Parsley

• Sea Salt and Pepper

• 1/2 cup Olive Oil (you can also use Vegetable Oil)

Lemon Garlic Aioli:

• 1 cup good Mayo or make your own

• 1 teaspoon Dijon Mustard

• 1 Lemon, juiced

• 2 Garlic Cloves, grated (if you really like garlic, you can certainly add more)

• Sea Salt and Pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. In a large bowl, fill up 2/3 full with cold water and cut up and squeeze the halved lemon into the water.

2. Prepare the artichokes by breaking off the stem, and cutting about an inch off of the top. Pull the leaves away working from the bottom til you get to the yellow green portion. Cut in half and put in the lemon water. Give these a good rinse. If your artichokes seem on the larger side, you can quarter them.

3. In a medium pan, heat up the olive oil to 250F.

4. Drain the artichokes and dry carefully, making sure to get all, or as much of the moisture off so as to decrease any splattering when you fry them.

5. Gently place the artchokes into the oil for the initial fry -- fry them until they start to turn a bit brown around the edges. Work in small batches so that the oil stays hot -- overcrowding the pan will result in soggy artichokes. Place fried artichokes on a plate with a paper towel to soak up any excess oil.

6. When you have finished with the initial fry, and are ready to serve, increase the heat of the oil to 375F -- or do this finishing fry just before serving

7. In the meantime, prepare your mayo with the other ingredients except the chopped parsley and lemon zest.

8. When ready to serve, refry the artichokes in the hotter oil, about 375 until golden. This happens very quickly, so watch carefully!

9. Place finished artichokes on a plate with a paper towel. Transfer to serving dish and sprinkle the fried artichokes with with sea salt, pepper, lemon zest, and parsley.

Note:

• You can make the artichokes 1-2 days ahead of time and refrigerate -- then finish fry when ready to serve.

• The aioli is so flexible, you can customize to your liking of spice, savory, tangy...it's a great way to experiment with flavors!

Baby artichokes from our neighbor!