Cardoon and potato salad, a perfect dish for lovers of creative potato salads. Cardoon and potato salad, just like the potato and artichoke salad is a simple, versatile and healthy side dish perfect to enjoy on its own or as an accompaniment to main courses of meat , eggs and cheeses. With a unique and unmistakable flavor that recalls the artichoke, cardoon is a winter vegetable rich in nutritional properties, brings great benefits to our health and together with potatoes creates a healthy, filling and light yet really delicious dish. Would you like to try it too? Follow me in the kitchen — I’m sure you’ll love this salad very much. If you want a much richer cardoon recipe, try the Sicilian battered fried cardoons and you’ll fall in love at the first bite! Before we roll up our sleeves and discover how to clean cardoons, I remind you that if you want to stay updated on new recipes you can follow my Facebook page and my Instagram profile.

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Difficulty: Very easy
Cost: Very cheap
Preparation time: 10 Minutes
Portions: 4
Cooking methods: Stovetop
Cuisine: Italian
Seasonality: Winter, Spring

Ingredients to make cardoon and potato salad

2 heads cardoons
1 3/4 lb potatoes
1 lemon
to taste salt
to taste extra virgin olive oil
to taste black pepper
to taste white wine vinegar
to taste black olives
to taste parsley

Tools

Preparation

To make the cardoon and potato salad, start by cooking the potatoes. Place the washed potatoes in a large pot, cover with water, season with salt and bring to a boil. Cook for about 35 minutes or until a fork pierces them easily and they are tender. Drain them and let them cool before peeling and cutting them into pieces.
While the potatoes are cooking, clean the cardoons. Start by removing the outer tougher leaves and keep the central ones, which have a tender and delicate rib. Separate the cardoon ribs one at a time and, with a knife, begin to remove the side thorns (if the cardoon is young they will be less tough), then use a knife to remove as many strings as you can. Cut each rib in half and as you go keep the cleaned cardoons in cold water slightly acidulated with lemon juice. I recommend cleaning cardoons while wearing gloves to avoid unpleasant stains.
Immerse the cleaned cardoons in boiling water lightly salted and acidulated and cook for 5–7 minutes (a little longer if the cardoons are tough and not very young). Once softened, drain them, place them on a kitchen towel and let them air dry or pat them with paper towels.
Cut the cardoons into pieces, place them in a salad bowl with the potatoes and dress with salt, vinegar, a generous drizzle of olive oil, chopped parsley, black pepper and chopped black olives. Toss and serve.