Artichoke

Spring has come! One of my spring favorite is artichokes. I didn't know and never seen artichokes when I was in Japan. I saw them first time 5 years ago when I moved in California.
I had no idea to cook this unique vegetable and my husband told me how to do.
The artichoke has lots of thorns just like cat nails and has hard leaves just like shells. You can only eat the bottom (small part) of leaf (see the picture below) and heart (see the second picture below)in the center.

How to cook? You just need to cook it with lemon or vinegar water until bamboo skewer thought into center of artichoke.
Dip with lemon butter and eat the bottom of leaves. After eat leaves, take off the center of hair like and trim around of heart then you can use it for risotto, pasta, salad and anything you want. It's a sweet flower like flavor and texture is just like chestnuts.

I knew the artichokes and cream are great combinations. So I made Fettuccine Alfredo with artichoke hearts, shrimps, lemon zest and "Yuzuton" which is citrus x red pepper paste originally from southern part of Japan. It was so delicious!!!