Salad dressings & dips
Cardoon hummus
Cardoons are a divisive vegetable; some people love them whilst others aren’t so sure. Either way, this is a great recipe to try them and get all of the nutritional benefits without much cardoon flavour. Afterall, who doesn’t love hummus!?
Cook's notes
We have reduced the typical amount of tahini used in hummus as cardoons are slightly bitter. If you’re a bitter flavour fan, then add more tahini to taste.
Ingredients
To prep the cardoons:
- 1 head of cardoons (about 200g)
- 1 lemon
For the hummus:
- 125g cooked cardoon
- 1 x 400g tin chickpeas
- 80ml olive oil
- 3 tbsp lemon juice
- 1½ tbsp tahini
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled & roughly chopped
- 60ml water
Method
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Step 1
Prepare the cardoons by filling a large bowl with cold water and the juice of half a lemon. Trim both ends of the cardoon stalks and wash them. Using a small knife, shave the edges off each stalk (they have little spikes on them), and peel off the fibrous ribs (as you would do with a celery stalk). Cut each stalk into a 4-5cm batons and place them in the lemon water as you go.
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Step 2
Drain the cardoons and transfer them into a saucepan. Cover with boiling water and add a good pinch of salt and the juice of the other half of the lemon. Cook for 15-20 minutes to tenderise and reduce the bitterness. Drain, refresh under cold water and drain again.
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Step 3
To make the hummus, drain and rinse the chickpeas and place them into a food processor along with the cooked cardoons and the rest of the hummus ingredients. Blitz until it has a smooth and silky consistency.
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Step 4
Taste and adjust the flavour or texture adding more seasoning, lemon juice or water.
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Step 5
Spoon into a serving bowl and drizzle olive oil on top. Garnish with chopped parsley, sliced cardoon and smoked paprika or other garnishes of your choice. Serve with crunchy crudités and toasted pitta bread if you like.