Steamed Artichokes | Topped With Smoked Salmon + Eggs

Usually the first food that catches my eye when walking into your typical west coast grocery store, “Ralphs“, or “Whole Foods“, is their artichokes.

Between artichokes and asparagus, my obsession for both of these foods has really grew, since trying Malibu Pier’s grilled artichoke plate, which is 2 artichokes fire grilled on a plate, that literally tastes like it just came off of the hot grill, and you basically pull-off each leaf, and eat the inside artichoke pieces.

I’ve never really had the chance to experiment with artichoke recipes, except for using the “every-day” basic recipe for artichokes, which is just boiling them in water for about 1 hour, and glazing them with butter, salt and seasoning. Sounds boring right?

With the option of having the choice to make either stuffed artichokes, or actually topping the artichokes off with a favorite food of mine, this recipe came to become my favorite.

Why have a boring, and dull meal, when you don’t have to?

Next time you’re in the kitchen, just try spicing things up a bit, and turning up the heat a notch!

Steamed Artichokes Topped With Smoked Salmon + Eggs

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 medium or large artichokes
• Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
• 4 medium or large eggs
• Hollandaise Sauce
• 4 thin slices smoked salmon (2 ounces total)

DIRECTIONS:

1. STEP 1

   Cut off the stems of the artichokes. Using kitchen scissors, trim the outer 3 layers of the leaves to 2 inches.

2. STEP 2

   Fill a large pot with 2 inches of water and actually set a steamer basket over the water. Stand the artichokes upright in the basket and cover the pot. Bring the artichokes to a boil and steam them until the bottoms of the artichokes are tender when pierced with the tip of a knife.

3. STEP 3

   Remove artichokes from pot; let stand until cool enough to handle. Remove and discard inner leaves, leaving trimmed outer leaves to create a flower like shape. Using a teaspoon, remove fuzzy choke and any purple leaves; discard. Gently spread apart artichoke leaves to create desired appearance. Season with salt and pepper. Cover to keep warm.

4. STEP 4

   Fill a large saucepan with 4 inches of water and bring it to a boil. Be sure to reduce the heat to a medium temperature. When the water is barely simmering, break 1 egg into a small heatproof bowl and gently tip the bowl to slide the egg carefully into water in a pan. Repeat with remaining eggs. Cook until the whites are set but the yolks are still soft. Lift out the eggs with a slotted spoon.

5. STEP 5

   Immediately spoon 1 egg inside each artichoke (be careful not to pierce yolk). Spoon about 1 tablespoon hollandaise sauce over the top of each egg. Add 1 slice salmon on top. Then lastly serve with hollandaise sauce! My favorite!