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I had to watch part of a Batali cooking show three times to see how to cut up a fresh one for artichoke-lamb stew . . .
A savory artichoke pie is the other thing I'd like to make.
It's hard to imagine the frozen comparing favorably to fresh, but pls let us know!

Now I want artichoke soup from that fish restaurant in coastal artichoke growing country outside of SF . . .
got a recipe for me, Faith? I'm thousands of miles away from that soup!
; )

When I don't use fresh, I've always used jarred or canned in the past. Jarred, typically. I've never even thought to look for them frozen. So I'll have to try them now. I love artichokes hearts in dips, particularly paired with spinach, on pizzas or bruschetta, and diced fine on top of omelets.

I keep a bag of frozen artichoke hearts in the freezer at all times. I used to do jarred until I had a recipe that called for frozen. If you're not going with fresh, I'd definitely go w/ frozen (unless you're dealing w/ something where the oil that the jarred ones come in can be used, or the marinated flavor is desired). I've found that the frozen do well straight out of the bag -still frozen- in pasta sauces, stews, and even roasts, thawing during the cooking process. I have yet to try them in cold salads but that may be just the thing to make this week...artichoke orzo salad?

artichoke soup?! yum! yes, post a recipe please!

This is more of a winter rather than summer artichoke recipe, but I highly recommend Pinch My Salt's artichoke soup.

All this talk about artichokes is making me hungry. Any recs for which frozen brands to look for?

I like frozen artichokes a lot. Much, much better than the canned version. If you're in TX, HEB carries them under their store brand.

I usually just use them in dips for gatherings.

My boyfriend wants to make pasta with artichokes tonight and is insisting that the leaves on small artichokes can be eaten (more than the tender base of each leaf), and I insist that just the hearts should be used and eaten in the pasta. Who is right?

i like to use the frozen ones. No weird juice and they have a pretty good flavor. And the frozen ones at trader joe's are cheaper than any of the canned varieties I've seen and you get more.

shannon - i think it depends on how long you steam them. could be wrong though. but, i do know that with the big ones, the closer you get to the heart, the more you can eat the entire leaf - so just deduction that it might depend on cook-time.

Shannon, the reeeeeealy tiny ones can even be eaten raw, in their entirety. Are you that lucky to have some of those?

Shannon -

If the artichokes that you're using are "baby" artichokes (usually not much more than 1.5 inches in diameter) then they can be eaten whole. One of my favorite wasy to cook them is to steam them and then fry them a bit in hot olive oil so that the edges get a bit crisp -- they're wonderful that way with pasta. Hope that helps.

If they're baby artichokes, or if I'm using the artichoke bottoms, then I'll deal with the fresh ones, but if I'm just adding them to a saute or braise or something, frozen are definitely the way to go.

Hmmm, I was dissatisfied when I had frozen. I prefer the jarred kind typically.

Does anyone know if you can get WHOLE frozen artichoke hearts without the leaves attached?

I find that at leasts half of the leaves are not edible.

There must be a place to find simply the hearts???