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Start by preparing the artichokes, peel them back to their pale, light leaves, then halve them and remove the hairy chokes with a teaspoon. Place them in a pan with just enough water to cover them. Add the garlic cloves and a little squeeze of lemon juice and cook until the stalks are tender.

Drain in a colander, then place the artichokes straight back into the empty pan with 2 or 3 tablespoons of olive oil and fry for 4 minutes to get a bit of colour on them. When they're slightly golden, remove from the heat, squeeze in a little lemon juice, add the mint and season carefully to taste.

Remove 4 artichoke halves from the pan and put to one side, then mash all the rest in the pan, using a fork to squash the garlic out of the skins (throw the skins away).

Smear across your basic bruschette," target="_blank">http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/veggies-and-sides/bruschette">bruschette, tearing one of the reserved artichoke halves over the top of each. PS It's also really nice to add a handful of freshly grated Parmesan to the mashed-up artichokes.