Word: cardoons
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With all his ventures, does Batali have enough time to spend in his own kitchens? He says yes, and he proves it one day at Babbo when he gets in a quiver over a cardoon (sort of a cross between celery and artichoke). "Those great spiky leaves, that bitter, dirty-weed smell..." His voice trails off as though an ordinary vegetable has left him speechless with delight. But once again, it tastes wonderful when he puts a little vinegar and olive oil on it. That's the sign of a great chef: someone who takes a dirty weed and turns...
...confer a certain intensity on painters. The eye becomes obsessive, prehensile. Sanchez Cotán was a cloistered monk who never went outside Spain-but his Bodegon of vegetables (see color overleaf) is one of the most remarkable still-lifes ever painted. Each form-the ribbed curves of the cardoon stalks, the fleshy convolutions of the hanging cabbage, the ragged lace of the lettuce-is rendered with breathtaking economy. The picture is a lesson in ideal vegetarian geometry, with the slice of lemon and the slender cones of carrots occupying space like Renaissance mathematical models. At the same time...
...crust smeared with tomato pulp or dipped in hot wine. They hang about for days at the edges of fields hoping for jobs. Their priest begs lentils from door to door. On the Feast of St. Francis, the townspeople leave a hoarded egg white and the thistly cardoon as an offering. As Novelist Rimanelli spells it out, America with its fabulous giobbe (jobs) offers the one hope of earthly release from a doom of sweat, petty theft, envy, slander. For peasant poverty here has not made for nobility of soul-these people are tougher than the brass-hearted Normans...
Nicola's most important asset is a patch of land he can trade for a passage to Canada. He has one nubile daughter named Michela, another one named Sira, who is a mute. On St. Francis' night, when the egg white and the cardoon are on the window sills, a village woman empties a chamber pot on two peasants. This has the odd effect of stirring their passions, and they waylay Michela with rape in mind. The rape is not accomplished, but Michela becomes as mutely mad as her sister; what is more she is really in love...
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