I’ve tried for many years without success to grow my own artichokes from seed. They always come up, look good for a while, and then turn their best to the sky and go to vegetable heaven. Consequently when my grocer gets in some real beauties I grab a whole bunch and rush home with them.

There are lots of things you can do with artichokes. If you’re lucky enough to be able to grow your own you can let some of them mature to form large beautiful flowers. Or you can pick them mature to form large beautiful flowers. Or you can pick them when they are still young and tender (you actually eat the unopened flower bud of the plant) and boil them in salted water with some bay leaf, garlic, and lemon wedges, pull off the leaves (petals), dip them in drawn butter, and scrape off the succulent flesh between your teeth.
For variety, however, an artichoke is eminently stuffable.

• 4 large artichokes
• 4 bay leaves
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 lemon, quartered
• 1 pound country – style bulk sausage or sweet Italian- style sausage removed from casing
• ¼ cup minced onion
• ¼ cup Parmesan cheese
• ½ cup bread crumbs
• 1 egg, well beaten
• ½ cup dry white wine
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• 1 tablespoon chopped capers
• Pinch of cayenne pepper
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• ½ cup lemon juice
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, finely minced

1. Prepare the artichoke: Cut off the stem, leaving a flat base. Reserve the
   stems. Remove any bruised outer leaves. Cut about one inch off the top of each artichoke with a sharp knife. With a pair of kitchen scissors snip off the tip of each outer leaf.
2. Place the artichokes in a pot of boiling salted water along with the bay leaves, four crushed cloves of garlic, and the quartered lemon. Add the stems to the pot and cook, covered, for about half an hour. Remove from water and cool.
3. While the artichokes are bubbling, sauté the sausage in a skilled just until it loses its pink color. Remove the sausage with a slotted spoon and set it aside.
4. In the sausage dripping sauté the minced onion until it is translucent, about ten minutes.
5. In a bowl mix the sausage, onion, Parmesan cheese, bread crumbs, egg, wine, thyme, capers, cayenne, salt, pepper, and, when they are cooked, the artichoke stems, which should be chopped finely.
6. When the artichokes are cooked and cool enough to handle, pull back the leaves and remove the inner choke.(The artichoke is a member of the thistle family and if you tried to eat the choke you would see why.)
7. Fill the center of each artichoke with equal amounts of stuffing. If you have enough stuffing, place some in between the large leaves at the base.
8. Place the stuffed artichokes in a baking pan and pour the lemon juice mixed with the olive oil and minced garlic over them.

Cover and bake in pre-heated 350 F. oven for about twenty minutes or until the base leaves are very tender. Serve hot with the pan juices for dipping.

Serves 4