Artichokes and dipping butter, with a side of New York Steak

This menu is what you should plan when you want something delicious, somewhat fancy, yet extremely simple. (Of course, I say that because MY job was to prep and cook the steaks, and Brian's job was to prep and cook the artichokes!) For basic artichoke selection and preparation tips, I refer you back to a post several months ago titled "Ask Gourmet Gibbs" - (December 2009) but I will give additional suggestions here.

Artichokes - you'll want one choke per person, italian salad dressing and some lime juice.

Cut off the stem at the base, slice off the crown of the choke, and snip off the prickly tops of the outer leaves. Using a spoon, scoop out the "choke" part of the artichoke - that's the purple furry-spiney-prickly part.

Trim the woody/fibery end off the stem, then cut up the rest into small pieces and put in the center of the artichoke. and drizzle with the Italian dressing. Drizzle lime juice over the outside leaves. Place on a the microwave safe dish, wrap with plastic wrap, and microwave until the leaves are tender and pull away from the stem without too much resistance. Remember, they'll continue to cook a little while after they're out of the microwave, and you can always put them in for a little more time, but you can't undo over-cooking!

New York Steaks (or whatever cut is on sale at your local market) - before you prep the artichokes, take the steaks out of the fridge and let them come to room temperature - about 30 -45 minutes. Next, I lightly seasoned the steaks with salt, garlic salt and a Costco steak rub, then heavily seasoned with fresh ground pepper. Season one side, press the seasonings into the meat, then flip and repeat.
Steaks are always yummier on the grill, but I just panned fried these for convenience - besides, I had to stay in the kitchen to snap photos of Brian's artichoke magic. We like our steaks medium rare - so just a few minutes on each side was sufficient. While Brian melted butter in the microwave, I sliced and trimmed the steak into tasty bite-sized medallions of deliciousness.

YUM!