How to clean and cook cardoons. Well, it’s certainly not an impossible task, but you need to know some tricks.
Well-known and used in cooking, the cardoon is a very versatile winter vegetable that pairs well in many recipes.
The cardoon has a hard and fibrous texture, but belongs to the same family as the artichoke.
It resembles celery, and the cardoon is characterized by its white ribs. In terms of taste, they are more similar to artichokes, low in calories.
Due to their low-calorie content, they can be paired with any preparation, even particularly fatty ones. Cardoons are very versatile, and the stalks can also be used for fantastic risottos.
The cardoon is also called wild artichoke.
As you go, put the cleaned and cut ribs in a bowl containing water acidulated with lemon juice, to prevent them from turning black.
Let’s see how to clean a cardoon.
To be consumed mainly in autumn and winter.
I’ll leave you a recipe cheese-cardoon
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very cheap
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 4/6
- Cooking methods: Boiling
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Winter
- Energy 45.33 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 10.48 (g) of which sugars 0.15 (g)
- Proteins 1.59 (g)
- Fat 0.26 (g) of which saturated 0.04 (g)of which unsaturated 0.18 (g)
- Fibers 3.07 (g)
- Sodium 679.11 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 120 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
How to Clean and Cook Cardoons
- 1 cardoon
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1 lemon (juice)
- to taste salt
Tools
- Pot
- Bowl
Preparation: How to Clean and Cook a Cardoon
To purchase good quality plants, you need to check that the stalks are white and compact.
If they have green areas, the cardoons will be less fresh or even bitter.
Start cleaning the cardoons by separating the ribs from the core and removing the leaves.
Remove the hard and woody fibers from each piece of rib using a sharp knife. As the ribs are cleaned, plunge the cardoons into the acidulated water.
(Water and lemon).
Rinse the cardoons under running water.
The cardoon needs to be cooked for an hour in water with lemon juice and flour to allow its ribs to maintain the bright white color.
After that, they are ready to be prepared as you like.
Cardoons adapt to any kind of dish.
For example, in first courses, in main courses you can consider using the cooked stalks as casseroles or risottos, or cooking them au gratin.
Cardoons prepared this way can be used directly in the kitchen or can be stored for a few days in the refrigerator.
Enjoy your meal.
Advice
The cardoon is low in calories and has a lot of properties.
If you need to optimize time in the kitchen, you can also boil the cardoons and store them, to complete the chosen recipe later. They keep well in the fridge for a couple of days. They can also be frozen and left in the freezer for up to 2-3 months.
The recipe is left to your creativity, in any case, we have no doubt that if you followed my advice on cleaning and cooking them, your cardoons will be a success.
If you liked this recipe, click on a lot of stars, thank you very much.
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