[cape chef]

Suzanne, I noticed in your post about your birthday dinner at Craft that you enjoyed Cardoons for the first time. Knowing your background a bit, I am sure you probably already no this ,But I thought it worth sharing. although they do not look the same,Cardoons and artichokes are related, The cardoon is best for it's tender inner leaves. If you ever use it, make sure to peel it and let sit in acidulated water because they oxidise very quickly.

But there is this dish i want to tell you about.
it is called "bagna cauda"This dish comes from the Piedmont region of Italy. This dish is prepared in November to celebrate the arrival of Italys "Novella" wines. These wines are made in the same fashion of Nouveau wines. Bagna cauda incorparates a number of things, some from the sea and some from farmers and some from the olive groves. Fresh young olive oil is slowy warmed with a million cloves of garlic and tones of anchovies in a black kettle in an open hearth until the garlic and anchovies literally melt in to the oil. Then new harvested Cardoons, baby artichokes,peppers and the like are dipped into this incredible bath. You always have a slice of wonderful italian bread in hand and as you dip the vegetables and bring it to your mouth you hold the bread under the dripping oil to soak it up.Then when the bread is swimming with this oil down the hatch it goes.

I posted this a long time ago about bagna cauda, It's a simple dish because it relys on simply ingredients at there peek.

Give a try someday, You should still be able to find cardoons for this
cc

 

[athenaeus]

Dear Cape Chef

Memories again!! The same dish we make in Mani-Greece which the most well known olive oil producing area of Mediterranean.
We do have Cardoons also.
My grandfather used to unpeel them and put them in his mouth raw. I don't know if he enjoyed the taste or the look on my face!

We prepare this dish not celebrate the nouveux, because we do not have wine but while we are waiting for the first oil to come from the olive press.
November is the season here also.

I don't know if anyone of our friends have seen the process. It's more a feeling. Excited faces gathered around the olive press having their palms ready to fill them with the first hot olive oil!

This dish is very tastefull, but it needs the best of olive oil otherwise don't try it., the taste will be sour with no reason.
And the bread you dip must be toasted of course.

The funny thing is that in Athens they do not sell cardoons and they sell them in NY.
In Greece, those tastes are the privilege of those who live away of the big city, they cannot be bought.

Thanks a lot Cape Chef

 

[cape chef]

Your most welcome Athenaues,
I am glad I brought back some happy memories for you.

One word of caution when useing the best olives oils, Make sure (if you don't have an open heart) that you heat this mixture VERY slowly to maintain the sutle fruity charector of the oil.
cc

 

[suzanne]

I thought about giving this the subject, "Such much food, so little time." Yes, I have heard of bagna cauda, even made it at one place where I worked (Follonico, recently closed after over 10 years). But there we did not serve cardoons as one of the vegs, only peppers. How wonderful it must be to dip them into that yummy oil! When I have seen cardoons at Manhattan Fruit, I've though about buying them but didn't know quite what I'd do with them. Now I do! Thanks.

BTW, the only reason I didn't respond to this sooner was that I was away and am still catching up with all the neat postings here!

 

[henry]

My father-in-law, of italian descent, introduced me to banga cauda years ago. He said it was a "peasant" dish, and when he was growing up it was served in a pot in the middle of the table and everyone dipped into the pot.

His recipe was different than yours, using oil, butter, sardines and anchovies. It is served hot and the "dippers" were french bread (untoasted) and celery. I was warned never to drink anything cold with it as strange things would happen in your stomach. Hot coffee and tea were served.

My in-laws think this was very "cleansing" for their system.

very tasty!

H.

 

[athenaeus]

Henry.

Is there any possibility that you find more details about your version.

I collect everything that has to do with olive oil and the olive oil producing counties of mediterranean.

Thanks in advance

 

[henry]

Athenaeus,

Believe me, you don't want to know more about this particular recipe. It has been "Americanized" by my mother-in-law--what was once probably olive oil is now Mazola oil, butter is now Imperial margarine, and the fish are from small tins found in the supermarket. It's unique, but probably not like the original.

The grandparents were from a little village outside of Milano and were poor and uneducated and made their way by hard work in the coal mines and raised their vegetables, made wine, sausage, etc. That is all that I know.

P.S. I got a good laugh when I clicked on the link at the bottom of your message. What a semse pf humor you have!

H.

 

[athenaeus]

Thanks Henry.

If I find something else about this, you will be the first to know

As for the site... if only you met the creator...he belongs to the kind I call , best kind of people " Kind, genious, american"

PS Pete ( since the moderator in the book forum is Pete) is not OUR Pete.

 

[hubuk]

I just have to tell you I published the recipe for Bagna Cauda on my site over a year ago from my most prolific contributor, Shirley Cline, who lives in San Fransisco but whose family originally came from Piedmont. This is what was published:

Bagna Cauda

This is one of the recipes that has been provided by Shirley Cline from San Fransisco. Shirley had this to say:

"This dish comes from my grandparents' home town of Piedmont, Italy. As Catholics, we often had this on a Friday, when we couldn't have meat. Bagna Cauda (pronounced Bon'-ya Cod'da) means "hot bath" and is served with raw vegetables for dipping such as cabbage, bell peppers (red-green-yellow), fennel, cauliflower and celery. The vegetables are dipped into the sauce and then eaten with a slice of bread held underneath to catch any drippings. Once the bread is soaked with the sauce, it is eaten too ".

Ingredients

3/4 cup olive oil
6 Tblsp. (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
12 anchovy fillets, mashed (Italian Deli should have the meaty anchovies which are better than canned)
6 large garlic cloves, chopped fine
Chopped assorted fresh vegetables, cut into bite-size pieces
1 (1 lb.) loaf Italian or French bread, cut into 2" sections


Method

If you do not wish to mash and chop by hand, you can blend oil, butter, anchovies and garlic in a food processor until smooth. Transfer oil mixture to a heavy medium saucepan. Cook over a low heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally (the sauce will separate). Season with pepper.

Pour the sauce into a fondue pot or other flameproof casserole and set over a table burner to keep warm. Serve with the vegetables and bread.