Cardi rifatti(thistles) ancient Tuscan recipe
Tuscany is known for its long cooking recipes that in the peasant tradition become a triumph of flavor and sauces. The recooked thistles are the best. Cardi rifatti for you
by Donatella Cinelli Colombini
Some vegetables are cooked three times: boiled, fried and recooked in tomato. In the end, even cauliflower, which is normally not very tasty, becomes a king’s treat.
In Montalcino, one of the most delicious recipes is made with the same three cooking and traditionally solemn lunch of August: rooster stewed with recooked celery .
Here I describe a winter version based on thistles that brings to the table the intense taste of the Tuscan tradition and can be served as a side dish of a roast or alone.
INGREDIENTS FOR CARDI RIFATTI
A cardoon of about one kilo, 8 ripe tomatoes or 150 g of tomato sauce, two eggs, flour, garlic, extra virgin olive oil, salt and black pepper.
PREPARATION OF CARDI RIFATTI
Wash, cut into pieces of about ten centimeters the ribs of the thistle removing with the knife the hardest ribs. Boil them in salted water for over half an hour.
Peel the tomatoes, break them and toss them in the pan where the garlic is frying in the extra virgin olive oil. Add salt, sprinkle with black pepper and slowly remove the sauce.
Mix the eggs and salt, flour the thistle, pass them in the eggs and then throw them in the hot oil making them brown on each side. Add the tomato sauce after removing the garlic. When the thistles have absorbed the sauce on each side they are ready to be brought to the table.
If you want you can prepare the thistle the day before and heat them in the oven still covered with tomato sauce. They will be even more tasty.
Pair it with a youthful red, full and harmonious such as Leone Rosso Orcia DOC from Fattoria del Colle.