We’ve been getting cardoons in our csa box recently and I couldn’t be more excited.

What’s a cardoon you might ask? Well, it looks like a weird overgrown celery stock, but it tastes similar to an artichoke.

You need to peel it, before cooking. And you need to cook it, before eating.

There’s some work involved, but no more than the regular artichoke, or it’s cousin the sunchoke.

And the result, is a lot more artichokiness that you get from a singular artichoke.

Which makes it the perfect counterpart for a perfect, oozy, cheesy fondue. Perfect for dipping and sharing.

Ingredients:

1/2 garlic head

evoo

pinch of salt

14 1/2 cups water

1 1/2 cups white wine

juice of 2 lemons, and leftover lemons

handful of curly parsley

3 globe artichokes, tops and bottoms sliced off, sliced in half, stems peeled and halved

3 stalks of cardoons, peeled, spikes and leaves removed

8 oz marscapone cheese

4 Tbsp melted butter

8 oz cream cheese

2 cups shredded jack cheese

1 cup sour cream

1 cup mayo

1 tsp salt 1 bunch green onions, chopped

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450.

Cut the top off of the 1/2 head of garlic. Place in tin foil square. Drizzle with evoo and a pinch of salt. Roast for 30 minutes, until garlic is soft.

Turn oven down to 350 when garlic is roasted.

Add water, wine, lemon juice and leftover lemons to a large stock pot. Add prepared artichokes and cardoons into liquid directly as you prepare them.

Bring to a boil. Turn down to medium high heat and let go for 30 minutes, until you can easily remove a leaf from an artichoke half.

Drain artichokes and cardoons. Remove choke from artichokes and discard. Remove artichoke hearts from leaves, reserving leaves for dipping later.

Rough chop artichoke hearts, stems, and cardoons. Add to a large bowl. Squeeze out roasted garlic out of peel and add to bowl, with mascarpone, melted butter, cream cheese, jack cheese, sour cream, mayo, 1 tsp salt and scallions. Mix until combined.

Pour into an oven safe dish.

Bake at 350 until cheese is bubbly and slightly golden.