These two super-simple artichoke appetizer recipes are perfect for the holidays — or this weekend

Thank God for canned, bottled, frozen, available-all-year-round prepared artichoke hearts! Can you imagine the time and effort it would take — the sheer number of artichokes required — for a sufficient amount of hearts for even the smallest recipe? Today, I am extra grateful that I don’t have to cook every artichoke I need for all the wonderful artichoke heavy recipes I love.  

Without question, my husband and I eat our share of artichokes. Big, beautiful globe artichokes cooked whole and eaten petal by petal dipped in lemony butter or curried mayonnaise is a favorite. (Thank you to the growers out west whose microclimates make for year round availability. We are grateful!) But despite having a pressure cooker that can cook an artichoke to perfection in only a few minutes, still I reach for my beloved canned or bottled variety to add to pizzas, salads, pastas or to simply season and roast as a side dish.

These delicious thistles also happen to be good for you too: They are high in fiber and are loaded with vitamins (particularly vitamin C and folate/vitamin B9), minerals and antioxidants.  And they are a great source of inulin, a type of prebiotic, soluble fiber that provides nourishment for all the favorable bacteria in your gut microbiome. Jerusalem artichokes, aka sunchokes, provide even more, but my favorite thorny-tipped, green ones have their fair share as well.         

Of the two appetizers, the Artichoke Pickups is more versatile; it has a few more ingredients, but neither recipe takes much time to make. Artichoke Pickups are satisfying like hot artichoke dip, but much more elegant to serve. Because of the eggs in the recipe, the bite-sized cut squares stay together, which makes for a clean and easy to pick-up style nibble, hence the name. Served warm or at room temperature, they are always a favorite and so much nicer than a drippy dip that must be cautiously held on crackers or toast points.

I mentioned that the Artichoke Pickups recipe is versatile. Well, it makes for a great crustless quiche. Follow it as written or reduce the amount of chopped artichokes and add some frozen chopped spinach that has been thawed and squeezed dry. You can add chopped, cooked mushrooms as well. The options are limitless really. If you want a more traditional quiche look, you can bake it in a pie pan, but it is delicious no matter the shape of the serving. 

I rarely have leftovers when I serve Artichoke Pickups as an appetizer, but if you do, those little squares are delicious straight from the refrigerator or reheated. I think you will find this recipe to be one you go back to again and again, especially during the holidays when it is essential to have an arsenal of delicious things on the ready that can be made ahead of time and aren’t much trouble.

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The second one, Artichoke Balls, is made from only four ingredients. These little bites are simple, but wonderful — with a sharper, saltier flavor thanks to the hefty amount of grated Parmesan, or other similar hard Italian cheese, used in the recipe. You’ll agree they are irresistible, both in taste and appearance — and like Artichoke Pickups, I think you’ll like them hot, straight out of the oven, room temperature or even cold. They can be reheated if you have leftovers and they can be prepared and frozen to bake at a later date.            

With the multitude of horrors passing across every news outlet each hour these last days, multiplied tenfold since the latest attacks in the Middle East, I have all but sequestered myself in the kitchen for some space to temporarily detach from the images and stories of so many who are in turmoil and are suffering. My kitchen is a place of refuge for me. And I am feeling extra grateful for it now as my heart can only take so much war on top of the ongoing footage of wildfires, maps of wildfire smoke and of floods and drought and earthquakes in addition to all calamities happening in my own back yard.

There is no doubt that creating good food in my kitchen and carving out time to take walks outside to be in nature, both calm me during challenging times. Today, I felt myself relax and my shoulders drop from the tactile experience of hand-forming my artichoke mixture into small uniform spheres, covering them with cracker crumbs and placing them neatly on my baking sheet. I was lost in it like I was performing a sacred act and it brought me back to some of my oldest and most comforting memories of playing with play dough as a child.

Being mentally immersed in my recipes, unable to think of anything else and smelling the gorgeous aromas while it all baked made me feel rooted firmly in the present where, at least right now, my world feels safe. The making — and subsequent eating and sharing — of these artichoke appetizers provided me a respite from my anxiety about all that is going on in the world. 

It IS a lot.  

But I will continue to find comfort in the small things, join in with family and friends to celebrate life’s good things, laugh and keep believing that this too shall pass . . . whatever it is. 

This is the season of gratitude and sharing. Maybe these appetizers are just what you need to get you in the spirit.