Artichokes are a favourite of mine. In Rome they are cooked in many different ways, this is maybe the simplest one and I love it. The use of boiling water will soften the hard artichokes that I can find here, if you find softer ones to begin with, when you taste them after 10 minutes cooking they might already be done...
Prepare the artichokes for cleaning. Here in Switzerland - when I can find them - I find them half cleaned at the supermarket.
Clean the artichokes by cutting away all the hard leaves and liberating the soft core and put them in a bowl with water. Add the juice of half a lemon, and the juiced lemon. Peel the garlic cloves.
Put the olive oil in a pan large enough to put all the artichokes in, add the peeled garlic cloves cut in halves and let the oil fry the garlic.
Add the artichokes to the pan with the leaves down, let fry for a couple of minutes then add 2 cups of boiling water and a pinch of salt, cover and let simmer for 10 minutes.
Take out one leaf from an artichoke and taste it, add salt if needed. If it is still hard, add another cup of boiling water and let it simmer for 5 minutesReady! Enjoy!