Cardoon Soup, or Minestra di Cardi in Compagnia: Cardoons are a simple vegetable, and this is a tasty cardoon soup.
Prep Time: 45 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 pound (400 g) tender white cardoons
- 8 ounces (200 g) ground pork
- 6 ounces (150 g) chicken livers
- 2 handfuls freshly grated pecorino (or use the mildest romano you can find)
- 2 egg yolks
- A half a lemon
- 2 quarts broth
- Extravirgin olive oil
- Salt & pepper to taste
Preparation:
Wash the cardoons, stripping out the fibers on the backs of the stalks (grasp them and pull as you would if you were stripping the fibers out of celery) and trimming away the woody hearts of the larger stalks. Rub them with the lemon, chop them, and boil them until the pieces are fork-tender in abundant salted water.
Clean the chicken livers, trimming away and discarding the gall bladders (be careful not to puncture them). Chop the livers and sauté them in olive oil, seasoning them with a pinch of salt.
Mix the ground pork with a handful of the grated cheese, the yolks, and a pinch each of salt and pepper. Make small meatballs out of the mixture, put them in a pot with just enough broth to cover, and simmer them for about 10 minutes.
Bring the remaining broth to a boil. Add the cardoons, meatballs in their broth, and chicken livers, and continue simmering for 15 minutes more. Serve with grated pecorino on the side.
The wine? White -- cardoons aren't as problematic as artichokes, but they are of the same family, and display that slightly metallic bitterness to a lesser degree.
Clean the chicken livers, trimming away and discarding the gall bladders (be careful not to puncture them). Chop the livers and sauté them in olive oil, seasoning them with a pinch of salt.
Mix the ground pork with a handful of the grated cheese, the yolks, and a pinch each of salt and pepper. Make small meatballs out of the mixture, put them in a pot with just enough broth to cover, and simmer them for about 10 minutes.
Bring the remaining broth to a boil. Add the cardoons, meatballs in their broth, and chicken livers, and continue simmering for 15 minutes more. Serve with grated pecorino on the side.
The wine? White -- cardoons aren't as problematic as artichokes, but they are of the same family, and display that slightly metallic bitterness to a lesser degree.
