Cardoon, Scotch Eggs, Cookie Fail and more

Cardoon Gratin

Oh, the fun of having your grocery store managers know you're a chef and foodie!  I walked in the other day to pick up a couple things, and the Produce manager calls out "Hi Chef! Check this out!"

"This" was a Cardoon. Cardoon? you ask? Looks like celery to me.  But it's not. 

 Cardoon, cardoni, artichoke thistle, cardone, carduni, or cardi, is a thistle-like plant in the sunflower family. It sort of looks like celery, but it's a relative of thistles. 

Cardoon is popular in Europe -- Spain, Italy, France -- where they often boil it first to remove some inherent bitterness, and then apply a second cooking technique.

Separate the stalks from the base, trim off any leaves, then use a peeler or knife on the ridges along the centerline and sides, to remove the stringy bits. Now cut into about 6" lengths and boil for about 40 minutes in slightly salted water.

To make the gratin, sprinkle a couple handfuls of shredded Italian Blend cheese on top, and throw it under the broiler for a couple minutes until the cheese melts and just starts to brown. Yum! Tastes sort of like artichoke.

Florida Snowball Cookie -- FAIL!!

"Uncle Charlie" Kellenberger, a.k.a The Cookie Man, has a "cookie ministry" here in the Fort Myers area which he has been doing for something like 30 years. Uncle Charlie makes thousands and thousands of cookies of several kinds every year, and gives them to fellow veterans and others in the community. This year he submitted a recipe to the local newspaper's Christmas Cookie contest, and his Florida Snowball recipe took Second Place! This is a great no-bake recipe that is fast and easy, and very tasty.

1 box (12 oz) Vanilla Wafers, crumbled fine

2 Cups Powdered Sugar

1/2 can Frozen OJ Concentrate, thawed

1/2 cup Pecans, finely chopped

Additional Powdered Sugar for rolling

Combine everything except the rolling sugar. Form into small balls and roll in the additional sugar.  

The problem is, I bought the wrong Vanilla Wafers. I bought these:

 

and I should have bought these:

The result (because of the sugary cream filling) is a cookie so sweet they almost make your teeth ache!  They're good, but you can't eat more than one.   I'm sure the "Nilla" version is less sugary!!

Rustic Barbados Cherry Tart

I got this recipe from a lady named Lois Sharp, from Cape Coral, via an article in the Orlando Sentinel. Much easier than my previous Ascerola pie. Still, the hard part (well, not hard, just time consuming) is pitting the cherries.

3 cups pitted Barbados Cherries

1 cup Sugar (You can use sugar substitutes such as Splenda.)

3 Tbsp flour

1 tsp Cinnamon

Mix the cherries with the sugar, flour and cinnamon. Put the cherries on the bottom of a 9-inch unbaked pie crust. Dot with butter and put on top crust. Bake at 350F in a preheated oven, for 30-35 minutes, until well browned.

I used about half the amount of cherries. They were ones that were not fully ripe, and thus a bit more tart, and a lot less red. By the time I added cinnamon and the flour the result was brown. In a rustic tart, who cares. It tasted good! 

 

Scotch Eggs

London department store Fortnum & Mason claims to have invented Scotch eggs back in 1738, but they may have been inspired by a Mughlai (Indian) dish called nargisi kofta, meaning Narcissus Meatballs. The Indian dish would have been brought to England by returning administrators and soldiers of the East India Company.  Eaten hot for breakfast, or cold as a picnic item, the Scotch Egg is a quintessential British food consisting of a hardboiled egg wrapped in sausage meat, rolled in breadcrumbs and then baked or fried. The baked version is a lot more heart-healthy.

2 Hardboiled Eggs (you can even buy them at most megamarts rather than boiling them yourself)

1/4 lb bulk Sausage (your choice of flavor/meat), divided

1/4 cup flour

1 Egg, beaten

Breadcrumbs or Panko for breading

This one is 'easy peasy' as they say. Shell the hardboiled eggs. Roll the shelled eggs in the flour. Take half the sausage and pat it out about 3/8" thick, on a lightly floured or non-stick surface. Put an egg in the middle of the meat and wrap the meat around the egg. Totally seal the hardboiled egg in the meat. Dredge in egg. Roll in breadcrumbs. Place in a muffin cup or similar container. Bake at 400F for 35-440 minutes.

As a breakfast item at Sally's Cabana, I offer these with slow-cooked oatmeal and Marmite Soldiers (toast 'fingers' schmeared with a bit of Marmitetm.

Cajun Omelet

This is another Cabana Breakfast menu item. Sauteed Andouille sausage, mushrooms and shrimp, with mixed cheeses folded inside two eggs to make a tasty omelet.