For the Artichokes:

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  While you’re waiting for it to boil, instead of standing around watching (sort of like watching paint dry), get to work trimming up your chokes.  I like to take scissors and trim any pointy bits off so that they don’t poke you when you’re eating.  And then slice all of your artichokes in half, right up the middle (photos below). If your water is taking while, squeeze a bit of lemon juice on to the cut side of the artichokes so that they maintain their color and don’t turn brown.
2. Boil your artichokes for 30-40 minutes, until just about tender (30 if they’re on the smaller side, 40, if they’re a bit bigger).
3. Prepare an ice bath (cold water & ice in a bowl) with a few squeezes of lemon juice.  When your artichokes are done boiling, strain them and let them sit in the lemon water ice bath for a few minutes.  The lemon helps to maintain their color and the ice water cools them down so that you don’t burn yourself on the next step.
4. Once your artichokes are cool enough for you to hold them in your hand without causing yourself pain, take them out one by one and scoop out the hairy bits in the middle with a spoon.  This is the “choke” of the artichoke and it can indeed choke you… it got it’s name for a reason, so please don’t skip this step.  As I’m doing this I like to put mine back in the lemon water once they’ve been scooped as it takes a few minutes to get through them all and I want them to maintain their nice green color– a bit of browning is normal, especially on the cut edges.
5. Grill your chokes for a few minutes on each side, until you get the desired “char” that you would like on the outside.  I prefer mine with just some nice grill marks and slight charring on a few of the leaves.
6. To eat, pull each of the leaves off one at a time, and scrape the meat off of them with your teeth, until you get to the heart in the middle.  This artichokes heart is totally edible and has delicious flavor.  Of course, go ahead and dip all of these in the aioli below. Enjoy!

For the Dip:

1. Boil cashews for 15 minutes (or soak overnight).
2. Blend cashews in a high speed blender until they form a cream, adding warm water until you get desired consistency (photos below).
3. Add garlic cloves and blend until they’re all combined and garlic is minced into the cream.
4. Whisk cashew cream in a bowl with remaining ingredients.
5. Enjoy with grilled artichokes, veggies, pita chips or anything else you like to dip!
6. Restrain yourself from licking the bowl clean… or don’t…