>Hello Food
ies,
Cardi (cardoons) and sanape (mustard greens) are two wild herbs that have been used in preparing traditional dishes in Sicily for generations. Today, some more elaborate versions of these dishes are emerging.
Cardi (left) belongs to the family of artichokes. Each plant produces one single, very spiny “artichoke,” which is not edible but the plant is.
The seeds of the sanape plant (right) are used to make mustard, but the plant is very tasty as well.
Along the Simeto river near Bronte, the community elders continue to pick wild cardi and sanape like their ancestors have done for centuries. Farmed cardi and sanape also exist, but the taste is not the same.
Recently, acclaimed Sicilian Chef Roberto Spitaleri proposed several
sophisticated recipes, even if still simple to prepare, using these two incredible herbs.
Let’s start with cardi. The difficult part is cleaning them and removing t
he spikes. After that is done, pour a little extra virgin olive oil in a pan and fry some fresh chives, cardi (cut in small pieces), and dried salted cod (cut in small cubes). At the same time, cook some conchiglioni (shell-shaped) pasta. When the pasta is ready, add the fried cod and cardi, grated pecorino and finish with toasted bread crumbs.
Sanape h
as been traditionally eaten boiled with extra virgin olive oil or lightly fried with olive oil and garlic. But it is also excellent with pasta. After washing and boiling, lightly fry it with extra virgin olive oil, a little garlic and small cubes of bottarga (the roe pouch of tuna or grey mullet that has been sun-dried, cured in sea salt). Prepare spaghetti al dente, and when ready, mix the pasta with the sanape, bottarga, fresh ricotta cheese, and finish it with grated bottarga.
Why not p
lan to join Tour de Forks in Sicily to discover cardi and sanape?Enjoy,
Giuseppe
tourdeforksusa 