With a serrated knife (it’s faster), cut off the top of each artichoke about an inch down. Cut off the stem to leave about an inch. Pull off the lowest dry leaves and discard, stopping when you get to nice, fresh, tight leaves. With scissors, snip off the top 1/2 inch or so of every single leaf. Place artichokes stem-down in a saucepan in which they will fit tightly so they don’t roll around, and for which you have a lid. Pour water into the bottom of the saucepan and steam the artichokes for about 35 minutes or until leaves pull out easily. Check the pan frequently as I don’t think I have EVER steamed artichokes without burning the pan dry at least once. It can be hard to clean.
When the artichokes are cooked and can be handled, serve them with a bowl for the discarded leaves, and with either melted butter or a mustardy vinaigrette. To eat them, pull off each leaf, dip into whatever, and scrape the meat off with your teeth, just at the end where the leaf was attached. When you run out of leaves, you’ll be down to the “choke,” a thistly nasty thing at the center of the artichoke. Cut this off with a knife and you’re left with the meaty heart. which is heavenly dipped into the butter or dressing and eaten luxuriously.
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