Steamed Globe Artichoke with Green Garlic Sauce, Fingerlings with Green Garlic and Fresno Pepper

Yesterday at Whole Foods Market, we found large globe artichokes at a decent price, and bought two. It's been a long time since I've prepared steamed artichokes - it's easy and tasty. I simply cut off the bottom of the stem and the top fifth or so then steam, face-down, for about 45m. I prepare a dipping sauce with melted Earth Balance margarine, fresh lemon or lime juice, fresh herbs, a little salt, and perhaps a little shallot. Today, I used the very nice green garlic that we got last week - for each serving, I used maybe a tablespoon of the margarine, another tablespoon of juice, about 1/4 teaspoon of chopped rosemary, and about 1/8 teaspoon of lemon sage, along with a few pinches of salt and maybe three-quarters an inch of the green of the garlic, chopped thinly (maybe 1/4").

It turned out great - we loved the taste of the artichoke. It's a fun process, too - the very outer leaves are slated for composting then the remaining leaves are dipped one-at-a-time into the sauce and the white flesh at the base is enjoyed. When one meets the "hairy" center before the heart, the "hair" is removed by hand or with a teaspoon, then the heart enjoyed. Yum - and the garlic was great.

The garlic also made special the other dish that I made. Along with the artichokes, I steamed a dozen and a half or so fingerling potatoes. While they were steaming, I chopped another few inches the garlic stem into 1/4" pieces, as well as 1/3 of a mild red Fresno pepper into slightly smaller pieces than the garlic. I cut the larger potatoes into halves and mixed them with the pepper and garlic, as well as a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and some alder-smoked salt (maybe 1/8 teaspoon). It was very tasty!