Thursday, March 26, 2009

Cardunes aka cardoons

This is a *very* Sicilian treat!

Select a stalk of green cardune that is not too soft or brown.
They look like big celery only tougher.
Look for a piece with ribs on the back that are not too pronounced (that leads to a tough piece even when parboiled).
Clean like you would celery then with paring knife, peel any obviously tough strings and discard.
Cut the cleaned cardune into 4-6 inch pieces and place into large pot of water with the juice of one lemon in it and turn on high heat.
When water comes to a boil, continue cooking until cardune pieces are tender, but not mushy.
The cooking time might vary from 30 minutes to 90 minutes.
Keep testing them to make sure they are tender. Drain and rinse with cold water.
Pat dry with paper towels and prepare your coatings.
Make one bowl with beaten eggs.
One bowl with seasoned flour.
Dip cardune pieces in then egg, then flour, then in pan of heated vegetable oil mixed with olive oil. Do not crowd in pan – dip, flour and fry as you remove cooked cardune.
Fry until golden, then turn over and brown on both sides, place on paper towels to drain. Salt and pepper to taste.
They are great to eat warm or cold.
Image credit:  Apartment Therapy

1 comment:

Caridad Pineiro said...

Thanks for the recipe! My hubby's grandma used to make these and when I found them in the store yesterday, I decided to give it a shot to make them. You're recipe sounds much like hers!