Les cardons à la moelle

Les cardons à la moelle, a Lyonnaise recipe to die for. One of my favorites!!

The best recipe I have found is Paul Bocuse's. I'll translate it into English for you.

If you want to serve this dish at night, start in the early afternoon, its long. You can always cook it earlier and then heat it up for the meal. "Oh, difficult to prepare, long?" I hear you say. Trust me, this dish is worth it!!

2 or 3 kilos cardon

4 to 5 bones with marrow (butcher shop)
(make sure there is plenty of marrow, I've gotten some bones with hardly any)

1/2 liter of water (roughly)

2 tbl (csoupe) butter

1 1/2 tbl (csoupe) flour

grated gruyere cheese (one large packet)

salt and pepper

Go to the market and buy some Cardon. You need a lot for a big platter, maybe 3 kilos. You'd be surprised at how little you end up with once you've sliced and diced the whole lot. Get smaller cardon as its more tender.

Take it home and rinse it well. The leaves cannot be eaten, only the stems and the heart.

Now, here is the biggest task ... peel all the stringy bits off, and I mean all.

You can find cardon, cut and canned, but the heart isn't included and that is the best part. Besides, its far more gratifying to do it yourself from scratch and proudly proclaim having done it! But if you can't find cardon in your region, go for the canned. (if you get canned, skip the soaking step)

Next, cut the cardon into small pieces--stems and heart and soak it in water with a bit of lemon juice.

After letting them soak for 15 minutes or so, cook the cardons in heavily salted water until tender, probably around an hour or more. You should be able to easily slide the point of a knife into the cardon when its done.

Grease your platter with butter--real butter, please! Put the cardon pieces in the platter. Cover them copiously with shredded gruyere cheese. 

Preheat your oven to 180 (325).

Meanwhile, place your bones with marrow in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Lightly salt it. This photo shows only 3, personally I would use 4 to 5 good sized bones with plenty of marrow.

Bring it to a boil, cover and cook for 10 minutes.

Let it cool and then take out the bones. Make sure to keep the water to make the sauce!

Use a small thin knife to cut around the marrow inside the bones and then pop it out with your finger. 

Cut the marrow into small pieces and sprinkle on top of the platter of cardon and grated cheese.

Now, lets prepare the sauce! 

Use a metal or copper saucepan, certainly not teflon as you will be whisking with a wire whisk. 

Melt butter in the saucepan, add flour and whisk like mad, making a roux. We are making a blond roux, meaning only let it get a bit of color. Little by little add half the water the bones and marrow were cooked in. Make sure you whisk like mad the entire time so you don't get a lumpy sauce! This is a sauce blanche or béchamel. Add some salt and pepper. (add more water if you feel it needs it)

This sauce will be fairly liquid. 

Pour it over the cardons, marrow and cheese.

Cook for about 45 minutes in the oven at 180 (325). You can put it under the top grill in the end to get a nice crusty top.

Serve with a nice hunk of meat: lamb or beef. I like to serve it with a cut of beef called "onglet" (hanger steak). This is a fairly tender piece of beef that you cook very quickly, the outside being nice and browned while the inside red and juicy. Bien sur, serve the whole thing with a killer red wine, preferably costeau (hearty). 

Oh and, by the way, there is noting like a good onglet served with sauteed shallots ....

Bonne dégustation, gros bisous et a demain!

Love, Charley