Zuppa di cardi (Cardoon Soup)

Frank23 February 2019primi piatti, Soups23 Comments

Cardoons are one of my favorite vegetables, but they’re frustratingly hard to find here in the US. So whenever I spy a bunch in the market, I grab them, no questions asked. I find their subtle flavor, reminiscent of artichokes, delightful. If you’ve never tasted a cardoon, you’ve been missing out on a real treat.

We’ve already shown you how to gratinée cardoons to make a wonderful side dish, but they also make for a delicious first course soup called zuppa di cardi. After the initial prepping, the cardoons are gently sautéed in butter and oil, then simmered in broth until tender before being ladled into individual soup bowls over beaten egg and cheese. Cardoon Soup is an easy dish to make, with few ingredients to get in the way. It’s one of the best ways to enjoy the cardoon’s subtle flavor virtually unadulterated, an ideal introduction if you’ve never tried them.

Ingredients

Serves 4

For prepping the cardoons:

1 cardoon (about 1 kilo/2 lbs)
1 heaping Tb. flour
A good pinch of salt

For the soup:

1 liter (4 cups) meat or vegetable broth, preferably homemade
2-3 Tb. butter
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

For finishing:

4-6 eggs (one per serving)
100g (3-1/2 oz) freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

Clean and trim the cardoon stalks, then cut them into bite-sized segments (see Notes below for details). Parboil the cardoon pieces in well salted water into which you have whisked in a heaping tablespoon of flour for 15 minutes. Drain well.

In a large saucepan, drizzle some olive oil and melt a good knob of butter in it. Transfer the drained cardoon pieces into the saucepan and turn to cover them well in the butter and oil. Let them sauté gently for 5 minutes or so, turning gingerly from time to time and seasoning lightly with salt and pepper.

Add enough broth to cover the cardoon pieces and simmer for about 15 minutes, or until the cardoon pieces are completely tender.

While the cardoon pieces are simmering, break on egg into each serving bowl, then scramble it with a good dusting of freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

When the cardoon pieces are done, transfer some into each serving bowl on top of the egg and cheese. Ladle on the still simmering broth into each bowl. Serve your zuppa di cardi right away.

Notes about Cardoons

The artichoke like flavor of cardoons is no coincidence. The two vegetables are both thistles of the sunflower family native to the western and central Mediterranean. Cardoons have been cultivated there for eating since ancient times. It also grows as far afield as Australia and California. Sadly, although the cardoon was cultivated in colonial America, it has fallen out of favor, to the point where, strange to say, it is considered a “weed” by the Invasive Plant Council (!) One can only hope one day they wake up to the cardoon’s deliciousness. They should be every bit as marketable as the artichoke. They taste just as good and, if anything, are more versatile (see below). Unlike the artichoke, you generally eat the stalk of the plant, although the flower is edible. Their season in Europe is November through February.

The main disadvantage of cardoons is their rarity. I don’t know if there’s any solution to this, at least at the moment. I found cardoons this week at our local Whole Foods, but the last time I had found them in stores was perhaps two years ago, at another “premium” supermarket in our area. Farmers markets are another possibility if you live in an area where they grow—I understand that some small-scale farmers in California grow them, for example. Online purchase isn’t really an option, although if you’re adventurous, you can buy seeds and try growing them yourself.

How to Prep a Cardoon

As mentioned, cardoons do require a bit of prepping before you can cook them. The specimen I picked up in the market, as you can see, was looking a bit the worse for wear:

But no worries, you can always trim off the bruised bits. But first, start by cutting off the leafy tops if they’re still on. (The top of this cardoon had been pre-trimmed, but still needed another quick snip to remove the discolored top edges). Proceed to remove the outer stalks and, if they’re fibrous as mine were, discard them.

Now, with a paring knife, strip off the filaments along the length of the stalk, as you would with a celery stalk:

Then trim the edges of any leaves and prickly bits:

And finally, cut the trimmed stalks into bite-sized pieces:

Cardoons tends to discolor just like their cousins the artichoke, so as soon as you’ve prepped a stalk, toss the pieces into a large bowl filled with acidulated water until you are ready to cook them:

NB: For those unfamiliar with the term, “acidulated water” just means water to which you’ve added some lemon juice or vinegar.

Generally speaking, a one kilo/two-pound cardoon will produce about 750 grams or 1-1/2 pounds of edible material, although this rather sorry specimen gave me only about 500 grams or one pound. In any event, once you’ve prepped the cardoons this way and parboiled them, they’re ready for making in all sorts of ways. Besides in a simple soup like one above or gratinéed as we’ve featured before, you can use cardoons to make a creamy vellutata, a rich parmigiana or savory fritters. Cardoons are a remarkably versatile vegetable, and the possibilities are practically endless.

Variations on Zuppa di cardi

If you’re a bit uneasy at the prospect of lightly cooked egg, the soup is also quite nice without the egg and cheese finish, perhaps over a slice of toasted bread.

Some versions of zuppa di cardi add some pancetta for extra savor, others a bit of tomato for color. And if you’d like a more substantial soup, you can throw in some potatoes, cut into wedges or cubes, along with the cardoons. And in Abruzzo, they make a more elaborate soup, traditionally served for Christmas dinner, with little meatballs.

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