Who has heard of cardoons? They're quite popular in Italy, but a bit labour intensive to prepare thanks to their prickles. The commercially produced ones are huge, while their wild cousins are still very thistle like. Giuseppa shows us how to stuff and braise them. They can be served on their own or with pasta. Giuseppa makes her own maccheroni/maccaruna, but you could swap it for shop bought pasta very easily in this recipe.

For the maccheroni: 200g 00 flour, 2 eggs.
For the cardoons. 4 cardoon heads, peeled of prickles and any tough stringy outer bits, 400g minced pork, 20g grated goats (or pecorino) cheese, 20g breadcrumbs, 2 garlic chives or 1 minced garlic clove, a tablespoon of chopped parsley, 1 tablespoon double concentrated tomato paste, 400ml passata, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, peperoncino/chilli to taste, salt to taste