Cardoon stew… -

I am not used to talk about the ingredients, and from where I know them, and why I know them! But this time I feel like I have to. We don’t find them all year round and most of all we don’t find everywhere. But don’t turn the page yet you just have to search online “shop cardoon near me” and you will find where to buy some. We start to have them from the end of December to May. It give such texture to the dish and an unbeatable flavor. A lot of people put just a stalk of it to a stew for the taste it gives to it. The texture is creamy and very dense. It is a piece of luxury in an ordinary dish. This time I am going to use for a stew and it is going to be the star of the dish as it will be the main ingredients. I talked too much, let’s get on the recipe.

Ingredient

For 6-8 peoples

3 bunch of cardoon

1 large onion

1 bunch parsley

2 handfull small white bean

2 Tbsp full paprika

2 pnd Beef shank or beef chuck

1/2 pound ground beef

1 onion

3 clove garlic

2 handful cook couscous

1 egg

1 tbsp paprika

salt

pepper

5 Tbsp olive oil

1 lemon

1 bowl of water

You will need gloves if you don’t want your hand to get dark while cleaning the cardoon.

Cut off base, tips and trim any leaves. with a peeler take off the coarse, outer, stringy layer of fibers of the cardoon, and with a sharp knife take off the little white coat there is on the inside of the stalk just by making a small cut, from the top part and continue taking down thru the length on the inside. Make each stalk one by one as you want to directly put it in a bowl with the lemon cut in 4 to avoid the stalks getting dark.

Prepare a saucepan with olive oil cut the cardoon into small dices as well as an onion and let that sweat for about 15-20 minutes. Add then the parsley finely chop paprika salt Add the shank cut in a thick slice and the marrow bone or feet bone. (I prefer to use marrow bone but we don’t always find it so 2 feet bone will do) Cover the all with water and while it is bringing to a boil prepare the meatloaf. First, take couscous to pour it into a bowl and with the same amount of boiling water let it sit cover until fluffy. In a bowl combine ground beef, finely chop the onion and fresh coriander, crush garlic, egg, paprika salt, and pepper. With a fork open the grain of the couscous take two handfull of it and mix it with the meat mixture. Form a loaf and gently put in along with the stew. Add the beans. Let it sit on high heat for few minutes reduce heat to low and let it cook until meat tender. (it should take 3-4 hours.