New Potatoes with Fennel, Artichokes and Fontina Cheese

-Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

-Slice 2# potatoes into 1/8 inch thick slices.

-Slice up 2 bulbs of fennel.

-Melt 2 TBS butter in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat.

-Add the fennel and potatoes, ½ tsp salt and ½ tsp dried rosemary or 1 TBS fresh (chopped) and cook 4 minutes.

-Add 1 cup low sodium chicken broth, 1 cup heavy cream, one 4 ounce jar drained artichoke hearts and 2 bay leaves and bring to a simmer.

-Cover and reduce heat, simmer until potatoes are just tender, about 10 minutes.

-Discard the bay leaves.

-Transfer the potatoes to a greased 8 x 8 baking dish, and sprinkle with 1 cup grated Fontina cheese.

-Bake until top is golden, about 20-25 minutes. Let potatoes cool 10 minutes before serving.

How to Prepare Artichokes

-Peel the first layer of outer leaves off of your artichokes, and peel the stem (once peeled the stems are delicious too).

-Add some lemon juice to a bowl of water, and float the artichokes in the water to clean them and keep them from browning. Swish them around briskly to remove all debris before steaming.

-Put the artichokes in a steamer basket over boiling water and steam until tender, about 25-30 minutes for medium/large artichokes. (You can pull off an outer leave to test if it the artichoke is tender.)

-Melt some butter in a pan, add a little garlic if you like.

-Dip and then eat each leave, scraping the meat off the leaf with your teeth. Yum!

-Once all of the edible leaves have been, well, eaten, scoop out the spiny inner leaves as well as the bristley hairs, leaving a delicious heart and stem. Eat and Enjoy!