Steam the cardoons after stripping the
strings from the stalks.
Cut in 3" pieces and drain really good.
Then mix with 1 cup flour, 4 to 6 eggs, salt and pepper to taste, to make a thick batter, similar to pancake batter.
Cover the bottom of a skillit with 1/4 inch of olive oil.
Spoon the batter into the hot skillit, enough for about the size of a small pancake and fry, turning it over after it turns golden brown.
You can also add some parsley or grated cheese to the batter, but not bread crumbs…grandma never added bread crumbs.
Cardoon is a magnificent perennial native to southern Europe, with spiny, gray-green foliage and purple, thistle-like flowers to five feet. The French first grew it as a vegetable and Quakers brought it to America in the 1790’s. Although related to Globe Artichokes - which Jefferson grew throughout his life - the edible part of Cardoon is its thick leaf stalk, which can be blanched with mounded soil. Cardoon is similar to the globe artichoke. With cardoon the young tender leaves and undeveloped tender flower stalks are eaten rather than the flower bud. The thistle-like cardoon plant grows to a height of 3-5 feet and spreads over an area 6 feet in diameter.
You can buy cardoons at Wegmans, farm markets, or any big grocery store in the summer months.