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People say we don't have seasons in Los Angeles. Oh, but we do, my friends. We do. For example, now is Artichoke Season, a time when (if you're lucky) you can find a farmer harvesting huge heavy artichokes with a long stem still attached.

The artichoke head that we eat is the bud stage of a giant gorgeous purple flower. As the artichoke ages the "leaves" of the bud open ultimately revealing the choke which turns deep lavender. For eating you want the bud pretty tightly closed. And look for heavy artichokes. Heaviness means freshness. When the artichoke is freshly cut its cells are full of water. As time goes by the water transpires and evaporates leaving the vegetable light and dry.

You can use the artichoke heads as you wish: boiled, steamed, stuffed, trimmed and braised, hearts only. But don't throw away the stems. If I'm feeling selfish I simply peel away the fibrous outer portion and munch the tender, crunchy, sweet and nutty inner stem. If I want to impress then I make this artichoke stem salad. You get one small portion for each stem. So it's fun to have a two course meal. First, a pretty plated salad, then one big beautiful artichoke each to pluck, dip then scrape with your teeth.

Artichoke Stem Salad

Serves 4

Prep time: 15 minutes

Peeled artichoke stems are sweet, crunchy and surprising. When paired with parmesan and olive oil they are sublime. Splurge for some good imported Italian Parmigiano-Reggiano for this salad. You can buy the cheese already shaved or buy a small chunk and shave it yourself with a vegetable peeler. Figure one stem per person on average.

4 large artichokes with stems

1 lemon cut in half

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