Daily Archives: September 3, 2012

Not Crazy About Cardoons

Lots of work. Really woody tasting. Don’t know if it was my method or the cardoons themselves. Oh well, at least the wine was excellent. And, so was the sausage with my tomato sauce.

2010 Boxwood Trellis

The wine was a blend of Malbec, Merlot and Petit Verdot. These grapes generally don’t star in Bordeaux blends, with Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc being chosen as more dominant grapes. I like the fruit forward aspect of this wine, easy to drink while it is young. It went very well with Italian sausages baked with my chunky tomato sauce.

Sausages with sauce, and cardoons

The cardoons. Who knows? I may not have simmered them long enough, but they were in the pot for an hour and were “fork tender”. I baked them for 45 minutes, with the bechamel sauce, cheese and bread crumbs on top.

Classic cardoons in bechamel

They looked good. And the sauce was good to eat. The cardoons were definitely chewy. Not something I will make again. This is one item that will go into the swap box if I ever get it again from the CSA.

Sometimes you win with the CSA. And sometimes you don’t. Like last year, when I discovered how great salsify was.

Still waiting for the horned melon to ripen. That is another new exciting item in last week’s basket. It is sitting on the windowsill getting yellow in places. CSA baskets can be intimidating or interesting. It is all about how you approach things.

African horned melon, not yet ripe

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