Recipes

From European Festival Food by Elisabeth Luard, this is a wonderful recipe to try if you can get hold of cardoons.

Serves 4-6

    1 head of cardoon, trimmed of all leaves and chopped into short bite-sized lengths (use the tender inside stalks only)
    Juice of ½ lemon
    4 tbsp olive oil
    2 tbsp whole black olives, squashed with a rolling pin
    1 black truffle, brushed and cut into slivers (optional)
    2 tbsp flour
    300ml (½ pint) white wine
    Salt and pepper
    3 tbsp grated cheese

Method

Cook the cardoons in boiling salted water in a roomy lidded saucepan for 10-15 minutes until tender. Drain and toss with the lemon juice.

Heat the oil in a pan and turn the cardoon pieces in it to dry them off a little. Add the olives and the optional truffle. Heat again. Sprinkle in the flour and stir it in. splash in the wine and bubble it all up. Simmer for 10-15 minutes to cook the flour and evaporate the alcohol. Taste and add salt and pepper.

Spread the cardoons in their sauce in a gratin dish, finish with a generous sprinkling of grated cheese and slip it under a hot grill to gild and bubble up.