Cardoon epiphany

[Jenise]

When: last Saturday night
Where: at Nick's Cafe in McMinneville, Oregon
How: as a room temp appetizer course, they were cut into batonets, probably pre-cooked, then lightly marinated with mild citrus flavors and served with shaved radishes, finely chopped chives and slices of fresh orange.
Prior experience: have never seen them on a restaurant menu before, and have never eaten them. I did purchase them once in Southern California to cook at home and my efforts were not successful, though it's been so long I don't remember what I tried to do and why it wasn't successful.

But my this was a wonderful dish. Cardoons are the leaf or stalk of a plant that's in the thistle family and the flavor's similar to that of artichoke, and when cooked they have a texture that's similar to bamboo shoot, though softer. They're apparently a fall vegetable.

Now that I'm a fan, I'd love to try my hand at preparing them again, but my chances of finding raw cardoon up here is probably like that of the famous snowball in a hot place. So I'll have to settle for vicariously enjoying the work of others. Any other fans? How do you like to prepare them?

First time I had them (in France), they were blanched, then put into a very rich gratin. Absolutely perfect.

I liken them more to chard (the white part, not the leaf), but I can go with your description.

Occasionally I've been able to buy them fresh at the SB farmers market. It takes a lot of prep work, blanching, destringing, etc. I also tend to prefer gratinee. I have a jar of preserve cardoon, but not much inkling what to do with it. Somehow, the idea of a gratinee of waterlogged cardoon doesn't appeal.

[Jenise]

Bernard and Stuart, I read another recipe just yesterday for fried cardoons that called for pre-soaking the trimmed cardoons in salt water for eight hours. It didn't specify why that step, and I don't recall doing that part myself years ago. The recipe didn't specify why one should do this, but perhaps it leaches out the bitterness I remember from my own attempt at cardoons and didn't find in the dish I ordered at Nick's. Can either of you verify?

I've never heard of this. The way I learned it (and I do it), is to trim them and put them immediately into the gratin or let rest in acidulated water.