North African Cardoons

Preparation info
  • Serve

    4 to 6

    unless otherwise stated.
    • Difficulty

      Easy

Appears in
Two Fat Ladies Obsessions

By Jennifer Paterson and Clarissa Dickson Wright

Published 1999

  • About

Cardoons grow wild all around the anchovy belt of the Mediterranean, and are particularly popular in North Africa. The brilliant African cook, Alaphia Bidwell, once went on a holiday to the Rif mountains and brought me back some wild North African cardoons. They were very prickly, but had an extremely good flavor.

Ingredients

  • 4-6 stalks of cardoon
  • Juice of ½ lemon
  • 2 eggs
  • Flour for coating

Method

Mix together all the stuffing ingredients in a bowl. Cover and leave in a cool place for 1 hour.

Trim the cardoon stalks and cut into 2-inch lengths. Blanch in boiling water acidulated with the lemon juice for 10 minutes. Drain and plunge into cold water, then drain again thoroughly.

Make a sandwich with two pieces of cardoon and the stuffing in the center. Repeat this process u