Don't Eat This Canned Vegetable Straight From The Can — Grill It Instead

Preserved vegetables are often just the thing to make your otherwise boring pantry dinners seem a little more gourmet. Artichoke hearts, for example, can be great right out of the can or chopped up for dips, tossed with pasta dishes, and stuffed into sandwiches. But what if, instead, you gave all of those terrific, tinned artichoke hearts the same precious treatment you'd ordinarily allocate to fancy, fresh ones by grilling them? You'd have some tastier plates, that's what.

Grilling canned artichoke hearts kisses them with a smoky perfume while also amplifying their scant natural sugars for just a touch more sweetness, as grilling is typically wont to do. It can also give them a more dynamic texture thanks to the charred edges you develop. These zhuzhed-up flavors, and the more considered consistency, also make the sum of whatever you're adding them to seem more intentional, creating a more polished finished product — whatever the evening's recipe may be.

Canned artichoke hearts typically come packed in water, versus the glass jarred variety you more likely see suspended in oil. The former is better for grilling since you want to get the artichoke hearts nice and dry for any chance at a char. The latter's slinky liquid just remains slick. Drain the hearts through a colander, and arrange on a few layers of paper towels to wick away as much moisture as you can. You may also want to press them gently, but this is one veg we'd keep away from the salad spinner; its delicate constitution is liable to break down with the centrifugal force.

Once you season the artichoke hearts as you like, you may notice that they're pretty petite, and particularly vulnerable to slipping through grill grates. Simply skewer like you would for your favorite vegetable kebabs to keep them above the flames. A grill basket is also brilliant for keeping your smallest morsels safe. In either case, turn them a few times until they develop the caramel color you desire, and you should have a fine pantry veggie indeed.