Home › The Waldorf Kitchen › Baked Cardoons with Breadcrumbs

Baked Cardoons with Breadcrumbs

Blanch and boil a sufficient number of cardoons; place them on a dish well buttered and sprinkled with grated bread, cover them with breadcrumbs, pour over sufficient warm butter to moisten, and brown the surface either with a salamander or in the oven. When done, take out the cardoons, and serve. A little grated cheese may also be sprinkled over with the breadcrumbs. Cardoons, Spanish Style Secure some very white heads of cardoons, cut each leaf into slices six inches in length (with the exception of the hollow ones which are tough and thready), and remove all the prickles. Place the thickest leaves in a saucepan of boiling water, and boil them for a few minutes, then put in the leaves of the heart, turn the middle stalks into olive shapes, put them into the boiling water, and blanch them also; try a piece in cold water to see whether the slime which is on the surface will come off by rubbing; if so, take them off the fire immediately, refresh them in cold water, wash and rub this all off. Prepare a sauce as follow: Cut about half a pound of fat bacon, and a small piece of beef suet into large squares; put these into a saucepan with two ounces of butter, half a lemon cut into thin slices, a small lump of salt, and as much water as may be necessary to cover the cardoons when they are added. Stew this for half an hour, then throw in the cardoons and boil them up once, and leave in. When read to use the cardoons, trim them at both ends, put them in a stewpan with one teacupful each of Spanish sauce and broth, and a small quantity of both sugar and salt; then boil over a sharp fire so as not to cook them too much, keeping the fat well skimmed off. When cooked arrange the cardoons on a hot dish, strain the sauce over them, and serve without delay.