Stuffed Artichokes - breadcrumbs

Method

• Picking your artichoke is very important. You want to look for a nice green color without too many brown edges or scarring (signs that it's old). Also you want to see some purple at the base of the leaves. Finally, when you are holding it, give it a sqeeze. Do the leaves cave in? (another sign of an old artichoke) Or do you hear a sqeeky sound and it feels firm? (the sign of a good one!)
• Washing. If you wish to cut the tips (the pointy ends) of the leaves I would do it this now (use kitchen sissors). Now put the choke under the water and make sure to open some of the leaves so the water can get in and around the leaves (if you didn't cut the tips off be careful, you might get poked). Then hold it upside down to drain it out.
• Then cut the stem off and put it on a microwave safe plate (be sure that it's sitting evenly)
• Take a spoon and stuff breadcrumbs down into the leaves (ya know right where there is a pocket). Keep pushing back the leaves and stuffing them until you reach the top and you can't pry any more leaves open.
• Melt some butter and lemon juice together in the microwave for 30 seconds and pour this over the top of the artichoke. Add a bit of water to the bottom (2-3 Tablespoons) of the plate and cover the plate completely in plastic wrap.
• You want to cook your artichoke in the microwave on High for
• 3 minutes for a small artichoke; 6 minutes for a large artichoke(the artichoke pictured is a large one).
• Then remove it from the microwave and try to pull a leaf out (watch out it is literally steaming hot. I usually use a pot holder to handle it). Can you pull the leaf out easily? (If yes move onto the next question. If no, cover it up with the plastic and put it back in the microwave to cook for 1 minute. Repeat the steps to check for doneness, until you can easily pull out a leaf. Do not exceed a total cooking time of 15 minutes).
• Bite the base of the leaf . . . is it soft or crunchy? (well to be technical you scrape the end of the leaf off with your teeth). If soft . . . go ahead and eat it. If crunchy then cook one more minute in the microwave.
• Eat! Pull leaves off one by one dipping them in your preffered dipping sauce and eating each leaf at the base.
• You have a few choices of dipping sauces out there. I've heard of melted butter or mayo mixed with a bit of balsamic vinegar or even Ranch dressing. My preffered dipping sauce is a mixture of olive oil, vinegar, salt, pepper and basil.
• Once you get to the very thin leaves that are tipped wth purple and slightly translucent stop and pull them off (sorry I don't have pictures of it). You want to scrape off the fuzz with a small knife. This Fuzz is the "choke" of the artichoke. Once scraped off you will be left with a grayish base of the artichoke - the heart. This is the main event!! Cut up the heart and savor it, dipping it in the sauce.
• How did you do? How was it? Let me know!