Baked Baby Artichokes with Blue Cheese and Shrimp

Artichokes are in. Green or purple, full grown or baby... they are in like no one's business. I am lucky enough to live in Southern California, where there is a farmers market for every day of the week. I couldn't help but excitedly grab a few handfuls of those cute little baby artichokes at the farmers market in Ojai. When I got home, I had bread crumbs (a common theme of this blog?), Parmesan cheese, left over crumbled blue cheese, and frozen shrimp. I had big plans for those little chokes; Baked Baby Artichokes with Shrimp and blue cheese. Feel free to use whatever seafood you might have; scallops, lobster, crab, or a hearty fish.
This uses 10 baby artichokes and will serve 4 people.












Start by putting a large pot of water on the stove and bring to a boil. Cut off the top third of the artichoke, the bottom stem, and first 2 layers of tough leaves. Using kitchen shears, trim off the top parts of any leaves that have any thorns on top. Cut a lemon in half and rub the lemon on the trimmed parts of the artichoke to prevent any discoloration.

Once the water comes to a boil, season with 1 teaspoon salt and squeeze the rest of the juice from 1 lemon into the pot. Carefully place the artichokes in and cover and cook for about 20 minutes or until an outer leaf comes off easily. Drain into colander and let cool for a few minutes until they are cool enough to handle.

In the mean time in a mixing bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups bread crumbs, 2 chopped green onions, 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese, 2 teaspoons lemon zest, 1/4 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper, and 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil. Set aside.

Prepare about 12 shrimp by peeling and de-veining each one (if not already done) and rinsing them under cold water. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

In a small non-stick saute pan, heat up a drizzle of olive oil. Place the shrimp in and cook until they are a pretty orange color, about 2 minutes on each side. Remove from heat and set aside.

Return to the artichokes. Standing them on their bottoms, cut them in half from the top down. Remove any spines that might be inside.

Lay them on the bottom of a baking dish, making sure they are close together. Garnish with lemons so you can serve the dish with roasted lemons. Add a dash of white wine in the bottom of the dish.

Roughly chop the cooked shrimp and toss in with the bead crumb mixture. Sprinkle the mixture on top of the artichokes. Drizzle with olive oil, a splash of white wine and bake at 450 for about 20 minutes, or until the top is golden brown.

                          

Plate with a lemon and you're done! This can be a meal on it's own or as a side. If you don't have bread crumbs, you can use rice, orzo pasta, or even quinoa. Enjoy!