Roasted Artichoke Hearts

I tried a little experiment today and it worked out great! Take a box of frozen artichoke heart and let them defrost. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. On a baking sheet pour 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Press one large clove of garlic through a garlic press and onto the baking sheet. Add 1/2 of a teaspoon of kosher salt and several turns of pepper from a pepper mill. Mix everything together on the baking sheet and the add the artichoke hearts and toss them around so that they become coated with the olive oil mixture. Turn the artichoke hearts so that the cut edge faces down. Put in oven. Check them after 10 minutes, if they are nicely brown on the bottom surface then turn them over and put back in the oven another 5 minutes. If they are not brown enough when you check them, continue to cook until they are. You really can't overcook them so let them get a toasty as you'd like them.
These would be a tasty tapas item served with roasted garlic mayo.
You could also toss the artichokes and olive oil mixture with some grated Parmesan cheese before baking. This will make them a little crunchy.
I used them in the pasta dish shown below-
Whole Wheat Rotelli with Ricotta, Pesto, Roasted Artichoke Hearts and Parmesan.
Cook a package of whole wheat rotelli according to package, making sure not to overcook. Drain and remove from heat. Add in one small container of ricotta cheese (can be part skim if you are trying to stay lower calorie) and one container of fresh pesto (you can make your own, but I cheated). Add one package of artichoke heart, roasted and fold all ingredients together. Taste and add salt and pepper to taste. Serve topped with a chiffonade of fresh basil and grated parmesan cheese.