Grilled Artichokes with Lemon Aioli

  I have been eating artichokes for as long as I can remember.  Whenever they are big and on sale at the store I buy a couple.  They were a great treat when I was growing up.  We loved them and now my kids love them too!  We have always eaten them steamed with melted butter to dip the ends of the tender leaves in.  I have been wanting to try grilling them and finally got around to it.  I loved the flavor of the olive oil and parmesan cheese grilled into the artichoke.  The Lemon Aioli was really good too, however, after a few leaves dipped into it, I found myself missing the taste of the melted butter on my artichoke.  I finished the rest of my leaves with butter.  When my kids came home from school they devoured the remaining artichokes and loved the aioli.

Grilled Artichokes
   Cut the stem down to 1 inch from the bottom of your artichokes.  Then cut your artichokes in half and cut out and remove the choke fibers and the bottom quarter of purple-tipped leaves.  Place the artichokes in a pot of boiling water and boil for 15-20 minutes until the leaves are tender.  Remove them from the water and drain the water off.  Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle on grated parmesam cheese.  Grill on high heat for 4-5 minutes until they are charred to your liking.

Lemon Aoli
1 cup mayo
2 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. grated lemon zest
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. EVOO
1/4 tsp. paprika
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. salt
       Combine all of the ingredients in a small bowl and serve with the artichokes.