Gratin de cardons à la moelle - Cardoon and Marrow Gratin

[bleudauvergne]

Gratin de cardons à la moelle - Cardoon and Marrow Gratin

Serves 6 as Main Dishor 8 as Side.

Although this recipe calls for marrow, you may make this recipe more family friendly by using leftover cooked poultry meat in place of the marrow and still have a marvelously tasty gratin.

You can divide this into individual ramkeins as you assemble the gratin and serve this as an appetizer as well.

• 1 head of cardoons
  
• 5 2-3 inch beef bones with marrow (cut by the butcher)
  
• 1 qt of veal or chicken stock
  
• 3 T flour
  
• 1 T cider vinegar
  
• 1 lemon
  
• 2 minced shallots
  
• 2 T butter
  
• sea salt
  
• fine salt
  
• pepper
  
• 1/2 c grated hard cheese like cheddar
  

Preliminary processing of the Cardoons:

Remove and discard any outside hard dry branches from the outside of the head, and then, one by one, remove the more tender inside branches, and wash them thoroughly. Slice the tender branches into lengths of about 3 inches (7-8 cm), starting from the base, discarding any leafy end pieces, which are hard and stringy. Go over the sliced pieces, peeling any strings from the outside that you can, and rub them with a 1/2 lemon to keep them from darkening, transferring them to a bowl full of acidulated water (the juice from the 1/2 lemon) as you go.

Prepare a blanc in which to simmer the Cardoons:

Make a paste of 1T. flour with a little bit of water and incorporate it into 3 quarts of water in a big pot. Add the juice from the other 1/2 of the lemon plus a tablespoon of cider vinegar, and 2 tablsepoons of sea salt. Bring to a boil, and add the cardoons. The cooking water should be enough to cover the cardoons, rectify it if necessary. Once the water has come to the boil again, lower the heat to simmer the cardoons, covered, for 2 hours.

(Remove the bones from the refrigerator at the time that the cardoons start their simmer.)

When your cardoons have 40 minutes left to cook, prepare a velouté of chicken or veal, depending on which stock you have handy:

Melt 2T. butter into a saucepan, and add the minced shallots once the foam from the butter has subsided. Sweat them for about 5 minutes at a low temperature (without browning the butter or the shallots) and then sprinkle 2T. flour over it and stir it in. Add 1 quart of veal or chicken stock, bring to a simmer, and keep it there for 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

The Marrow:

To remove the marrow from the bone, let the bones come to ambient temperature and push it out with your thumb. Dip the removed marrow into boiling water for 1 minute. Slice it into 1/2 inch (1 cm) pieces once it's at a temperature you can handle. (if you replace the marrow with leftover poultry meat, tear the cooked meat into shreds and season it with paprika and salt.)

Assemble the Gratin:

Heat the oven hot - 400F/220C. While the oven is heating, strain your cardoons and layer them with the marrow into a gratin pan. Carefully pour the velouté over the vegetable and marrow to cover, leaving about 1/2 inch (1cm) at the top to allow bubbling without spilling out. Sprinkle cheese all over the surface. Place in the lower third of the hot oven and cook a around 20 minutes, or until the gratin is a golden brown color on the surface. Serve hot.

Keywords: French, Beef, Main Dish, Vegetables, Side, Intermediate

( RG1510 )