Cardoon

Yes. It's called "cardoon." It looks like a giant piece of celery, or a stalk of rhubarb that has just seen a ghost. It tastes a bit like a cross between celery and artichoke and I found one single piece of it at one of my favorite vendors at the Fort Mason Farmers' Market today.

Little Moo was fascinated. She thought it was called "cartoon," which was fine by her.

I cooked it up tonight just to see what it did.

Peel the top, not the bottom. 

It seemed very hard, so I pulled out the leeks that we got today, as well and sauteed them in ghee for 12 minutes. I threw the slices in, and discovered that they required about 25 minutes plus a dousing with hot broth to get them to soften up decently. Not the prettiest vegetable I've seen, but nice-smelling. Little Moo wasn't having any of it, but Snackboy and I decided that it was very nice paired with leeks. I think next time I'll use it in a slow cooker recipe. Interesting taste.