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baby artichoke bruschette

Start by preparing the artichokes, peel them back to their pale, light leaves, then halve them and remove the hairy chokes with a teaspoon. Place them in a pan with just enough water to cover them. Add the garlic cloves and a little squeeze of lemon juice and cook until the stalks are tender. Drain in a colander, then place the artichokes straight back into the empty pan with 2 or 3 tablespoons of olive oil and fry for 4 minutes to get a bit of colour on them. When they're slightly golden, remove from the heat, squeeze in a little lemon juice, add the mint and season carefully to taste. Remove 4 artichoke halves from the pan and put to one side, then mash all the rest in the pan, using a fork to squash the garlic out of the skins (throw the skins away). Smear across your basic bruschette, tearing one of the reserved artichoke halves over the top of each. PS It's also really nice to add a handful of freshly grated Parmesan to the mashed-up artichokes.