When I was a kid, my dentist said that everytime I went for a visit. In other words, blame him. Last week’s FMB had this incredible long stemmed Lyon artichoke in it from Life’s a Choke (best farm name ever?), which just happens to be one of my favorite foods on the whole wide planet. If it’s on a menu, and it’s got artichokes in it, I’m ordering it. The ones you usually find in the stores bite back, with all those sharp thorny leaves. This variety doesn’t have that problem though, nary a thorn in sight. I like to prepare my artichokes really simply, just steamed with a dipping sauce of some sort. For me, the ultimate artichoke condiment is homemade mayonnaise. There’s absolutely no comparison to the stuff you get out of a jar. Just be prepared, there’s a LOT of whisking involved. So much that your arm feels like it might just fall right off. Your tenacity will be rewarded, I promise! My go-to recipe is from Bon Appetit a couple of years back, and no big surprise, it’s from a column written by Molly Wizenburg. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because I’ve sung the praises of her blog Orangette many times here before. This time around I used extra virgin olive oil in place of the canola, and one of the lemons from my FMB came in handy. I also added a little finely chopped preserved lemon for a little extra zing.

1 teaspoon large egg yolk

1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon white wine vinegar

1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1/2 teaspoon salt plus more to taste

3/4 cup canola oil, divided (I used olive)

Preserved lemon, fresh citrus zest, chopped capers, grated garlic, pretty much anything can be added to this with flavorful results!

Preparation

Combine egg yolk, lemon juice, vinegar, mustard, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in medium bowl. Whisk until blended and bright yellow, about 30 seconds

Using 1/4 teaspoon measure and whisking constantly, add 1/4 cup oil to yolk mixture, a few drops at a time, about 4 minutes. Gradually add remaining 1/2 cup oil in very slow thin stream, whisking constantly, until mayonnaise is thick, about 8 minutes (mayonnaise will be lighter in color). Cover and chill. do ahead Can be made up to 2 days ahead. Keep chilled.

It occured to me that in re-reading that “It has been a day of perfect food” post from a while back, there was nearly no meat in it. Just the bit of bacon wrapped around those bleu cheese stuffed dates. Don’t get me wrong, I definitely appreciate a perfectly seared medium rare steak, a juicy pork loin, a crispy skinned chicken thigh, and I’ve never met a seafood I didn’t like. But I frequently go a few days without including any meat in my diet before I really take notice of it’s absence.This past weekend was one such occasion, when the only non-veggie I ate was the shrimp in the shrimp & grits that Yo’s mom made for dinner on Saturday. What else was I nibbling on? Some of it was from the stash that I was gifted with from Specialty Produce, namely the heirloom tomatoes and the Baby Anzious Artichokes. The larger tomatoes I turned into one of my all time favorite “sandwiches” if you can call it that. It’s really just a chunk of lightly toasted French bread, slathered with a little mayonnaise (homemade if you’ve got it lying around), topped with thick slices of tomato, drizzled sparingly with olive oil and sprinkled with salt & pepper. I’ll be honest, I was so excited about their return to my repetoir after months out of season that I just plain forgot to take a picture. I thought about sprinkling everything with a little parmesan and popping it under the broiler for a minute, but in the end raw, juicy and fresh won out. The smaller black cherry tomatoes were just too perfectly sweet and delicious all on their own to mess with very much. I just cut them in half, tossed them with a little olive oil, salt & pepper, and ate them right out of the bowl.