I like to serve this elegant dish with roast guinea fowl or lamb. The cardoons have a bitter, yet beautiful flavour that stays with you. The work involved in stripping and cleaning them is well worth it. Wilma says that when boiling cardoons one can put a clean tea towel over them in the water to make sure they are all immersed. Cardoons, like artichokes, are very good for you. If cardoons are not available, you could use thistles instead.