Artichokes ala polita - stewed with carrots, celery, potatos and lots of lemon!

A real, true stuffed artichoke. Good Lord I'd maybe kill for this right now. Just stuff it with as much olive oil, garlic, Parmesan cheese breadcrumbs (and many I know love chopped up fine tasso or ham) and stuff that baby as hard as you can. Squeeze a little lemon on top and either simmer in shallow water for a few hours, crock pot it or steam it. Pull the leaves off and scrape the goods off with your teeth.

Steamed with lemon flavored homemade mayo. Mmmmm! Or, with a dip of citrus seasoned greek yogurt.

I can rarely get these as good as my mother did, but if you can find tiny baby artichokes, take off any rougher outer leaves and the stem, then slice vertically in 1/8" slices, remove any fuzzy stuff inside - if they're young enough there won't be any - and get a frying pan ready with olive oil covering the bottom about another 1/8-1/4". Put flour in one shallow dish and whisk some eggs in another dish. Dip the slices in egg-flour-egg and fry in batches. Salt and pepper as you like, flipping once as they get golden brown. Put on a dish between paper towels and salt again to serve.
This is very messy and easier if you have 2 people but can be done by one.
Excellent hot, medium or cold from the fridge the next day!

Just steamed, and plain. I don't need anything else.

Italian style stuffed...breadcrumb, stems, olive oil...then steamed/boiled with extra olive oil, so that at the end when the water runs out, the artichoke starts to fry in the oil and the outer small leaves start to burn. The best way to cook an artichoke ever.

I was a fresh artichoke virgin until this spring, but I really enjoy them just plain steamed with a tasty sauce! We chronicled learning to prepare them for the first time here: http://theweekendgourmande.wordpress.com/2010/03/14/kitchen-firsts-steaming-an-artichoke/

steamed with hollandaise-sauce to dip :-)

Steamed with mayo!

Steamed, and with my ex-boyfriend's dipping sauce recipe:
A base of equal parts melted butter and white wine vinegar, with a dollop of Worcester sauce and a liberal sprinkling of dried powdered tarragon and Lawry's seasoned salt. Alternately you can sub the vinegar and tarragon for tarragon vinegar.
The best stuff ever! Also good with asparagus.

NOW you post about them. I was searching a week ago how to cook my first artichoke :P

Sauteed with peppers, Italian sausage, and served with Hollandaise sauce! Oh man, it was delicious :D Here's my recipe:

http://newchefsontheblock.blogspot.com/2010/05/my-muse-artichoke.html

I just trim the pointy tips and add them to a large pot of boiling water seasoned with crawfish boil m- spicy goodness!

I'm with Jany! Steamed Hollandaise!

I just discovered that steaming AND grilling can make for some fantastic artichokes. You can see my recipe here: http://remarkablydomestic.com/2010/05/14/garlic-grilled-artichokes/