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"Today, purely by chance, I present two feats of culinary acrobatics that once intimidated me but now appear beautifully simple: roasting a chicken breast and steaming a whole artichoke. I found a reliable source on how to do each (here and here) and ended up with a simple meal that made me very happy.   First the artichokes. Clearly these things are not going to win any beauty contests, particularly not after they&amp;#039;ve been cooked. But every time I eat one of these prickly-looking things, I am amazed. The first bite, I&amp;#039;m kind of confused. Why would anyone bother with this? As I work my way through, however, the leaves get more tender and sweeter with each layer. By the time I scrape my teeth against the inside of the last few leaves, a pile of discarded ones testifying to the work I&amp;#039;ve put in, they&amp;#039;re melting in my mouth. I scrape the hairy part off the heart and then just bite into what&amp;#039;s left, the payoff.  They&amp;#039;re not that hard to prepare, either. You trim about the top third of the leaves and all but an inch of the stem, tear off the outer 2 or 3 layers of leaves, then steam in a big pot over water that has some lemon and a bay leaf in it. I steamed mine about 40 minutes and they were kind of big ones; the leaves should pull out easily when the artichokes are done. I like to dip mine in mayonnaise.  Next, the chicken. The last time I bought chicken, I bought skinless, boneless breasts, far and away the most popular chicken cut, but I couldn&amp;#039;t handle it. Too much bland, rubbery meat. Leave on the skin and bone, though, and you&amp;#039;ve got something entirely different: juicy, tender, with crackly skin and flavorful meat. The technique I used was easy. Spread olive oil over the chicken, then season with salt and pepper. Sear breast side down for 3 minutes in a hot oven-proof skillet, then turn over and transfer the skillet to a preheated 450-degree oven. It took about 25 minutes for my chicken to reach an internal temperature of 160 degrees, then I took it out and let it rest 5 minutes.  More classics:  Spaghetti and Meatballs How to BBQ Steaks and Burgers The Best Meat Loaf \u2014 Kim Walker "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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