2nd Di(sh)patch from the Market: Rainy Sunday Cardoons

In general, my idea of the farmer's market is very Utopian.  I picture a day with warm weather, sunny skies, a gentle breeze, market stands overflowing with amazing produce, and friendly farmers who can tell me all about their products.  Well. . . erase most of that ideal situation and picture my Sunday: chilly, thunder storms, and down-pouring rain.  Then, picture me, armed with my market bag, umbrella, and camera shuffling through the DuPont Circle market with my hands overflowing.  In the end, at least one part of my farmer's market utopia held true: the stands were overflowing with amazing produce.

Some of my favorite finds this Sunday included real baby carrots (more about this later), loose pork sausage, spinach, salad mix, greenhouse tomatoes, and amazing buffalo style mozzarella cheese.  My most interesting find (note the use of the word "interesting") was a strange little vegetable called a cardoon.  As we have already established in the early stage of this experiment, I have a weakness for trying new things, even if they haven't exactly proven themselves to be all the rage. 

The lady who sold them to me said to ask the farmer how to prepare them.  As I paraded over to him with my proud bundle of strange vegetables in hand, he looked at me suspiciously.  "She said you would know what to do with these?" I asked. 

"I only grow them," was the evasive response.  To which he added, "They're really labor intensive.  You have to blanch them in lemon water before cooking."

Great.  I love labor intensive cooking.  Nothing will clear me out of a bad mood like an entire 2-3 hours of cooking.  Sold on the challenge, I was anxious to return home to figure out what sort of dish these would become.

With further research, I uncovered that the cardoon is basically like a cross between artichoke and a celery.  It looks like celery, but it tastes a little more like artichoke.  This research did not impress John at all, who glanced up from playing Guitar Hero to remark, "You know what tastes like artichoke?  Artichoke."

Unfazed, I conjured up an image of a Mediterranean-esque pasta dish.  Knowing that I had leftover green olives (yes, I know-- not local, but in my fridge) and a bottle of white wine, a delicious idea popped into my head. 

Rainy Sunday Cardoons

Ingredients:

1. 4-5 Cardoons (artichoke hearts would be an excellent substitute)
2. 1/2 cup of onion, diced
3. 3 cloves of garlic, minced
4. (optional) a few sun-dried tomatoes, roughly chopped
5. a few splashes of white wine (about 1/3 cup)
6. water, if necessary
7. 1 small tomato, diced
8. 1/4 cup green olives, sliced
9. (optional) capers
10. fettuccine (penne or tubular pasta would be nice too)

Preparing the cardoons: Begin by rinsing 4-5 cardoons, then cleaning them of their fuzzy coat (it's prickly to the touch, like the inside of an artichoke).  You may also want to trim them so that they won't be stringy (think: stringy celery texture).  Blanch the cardoons in boiling lemon-water.  The acid from the lemon will prevent them from browning when you cook them.  Cut the cardoons into smaller pieces 1/2 inch to 1 inch.  (Cooks note: I made this with larger pieces, but decided that smaller pieces would have absorbed more of the flavors and made an overall better dish.)

Saute onion and garlic until onion is translucent.  Add sun-dried tomatoes, white wine, water, and cardoon pieces.  Cover and cook for 20-30 minutes (the cardoons should start to feel tender). 

While they cook, boil water and prepare the pasta.

Add olives and capers (optional) to the mixture of onion, garlic, and sun-dried tomatoes.  Cook for another few minutes.  Add diced tomatoes for the last one-two minutes of cook time.  Salt and pepper the mixture, as you like. 

Serve atop the pasta with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese. 

The results:

The recipe itself was delicious.  The mixture of flavors enhanced by the olives and white wine made for a nice combination.  The cardoons?  Well, let's just say they were interesting.  I found two recipes on-line which called for baking them in heavy cream and cheese (which would make anything taste good!).  I have to admit the amount of labor was not really worth it for this particular discovery.  I will save this recipe to try again-- using artichokes next time.

Comments

[Tim]

This looks like a good appetizer!! Where's the red meat though...I'm huuuuuungry!! :)

[Tiffany]

Thanks for your comment, Tim. The recipe was pretty delicious. As for the lack of meat, I realize that all the dishes are vegetarian so far. I did cook up a dish with farmer's market sausage last night, so I'll be sure to post that soon. Keep reading!