Artichokes w/ goat cheese

One of my all time favorite recipes is from Bon Appetit April 1995. It is whole artichokes stuffed w/ goat cheese, garlic, thyme and cream then baked. Here is the recipe at epicurious.com

What makes this recipe absolutely delicious is the combination of melted butter and olive oil on each plate that the artichoke sits atop. As you pull apart the artichoke, the goat cheese, butter and oil ooze together into a wonderful tasty mess! This dish is a great starter course for an elegant dinner.

A word about the artichokes: before boiling them, trim the pointy, sharp ends off of the leaves w/ scissors. They will be much easier to handle later without the thorny ends. Let the artichoke cool before you start to pull the choke (the hairy part) out of the middle. Use a small spoon to scrape out the choke gently. When you boil them, throw in a bay leaf and a little salt w/ the lemon juice. Use artichokes in the spring when they are in season. Artichokes out of season are as bad as tomatoes out of season.