No, this vaguely menacing vegetable isn't celery on steroids. Rather, cardoons, a flowerless relative of the artichoke that is quite nice during the winter months (during the summer they are unpleasantly bitter, but the bitterness fades as temperatures fall off), though it does take a while to strip the stalks of the fibers they contain. Once they are prepared, they darken quickly if not rubbed with lemon juice.
What to do with them?
Fried Cardoons
Stewed Cardoons
Cardoon Sformato
More about Cardoons and other Italian recipes
Juls's Cardoons Cooked With Egg
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Comments
Hmm. I’m fairly sure I’ve never seen this vegetable in my market, but I’ll be looking for it the next time I go to a store with a better selection. (Or maybe I saw it and thought it was celery on ‘roids!)
Cardoons are very hard to find where I live.
I’ve never seen this vegetable and I’m familiar with most fruits and vegetables since I once worked in the produce department of my parent’s grocery store. Although it is in the midwest, we would try to order an exotic fruit or vegetable each week for variety to the customers.
My grandfather is a big fan of cardoons, but they are not always easy to find and not everyone likes them. He fries them, which can be delicious.
In my Sicilian-New Orleans family, we traditionally enjoyed carduni as part of our Saint Joseph’s Day feast and they are always available in local Louisiana markets during early springtime.
If you visit any of the elaborate food displays honoring the Feast of Saint Joseph , celebrated on March 19th, you will usually find a plate of batter-fried carduni among the abundance of savory cooked foods and dolci on the altars.
I recall, as a child going through the grocery aisles with my mother, our basket filled with carduni and finocchi, being stopped by curious shoppers who asked, “What is THAT hanging out of your basket!”, to which my mother patiently explained the entire process of – stripping the carduni of strings and leaves, boiling until tender in salted water with lemon, thoroughly draining before dredging in a light coating of flour before dipping in an egg batter, then frying in hot oil until golden. Their nutty- artichoke-like taste is complimented by salt and a squeeze of fresh lemon.
I’ll have to remember about San Giuseppe. I’ve also been told they grow wild in some areas — Of course if you pick them wild you have to explain them to whoever asks you what you’re walking away with… :-/