Jerusalem artichokes get a bad press for their tendency to induce flatulence but their earthy and unique taste is, in my opinion, more than reason enough to welcome them into your kitchen with open arms.
In terms of feel good cooking in the winter there can be little more heart warming than a big bowl of soup, so easy to make and so deeply satisfying whilst giving the cook a glow of self congratulation for creating something so nourishing from pretty much any “hotch potch” of ingredients left behind in the vegetable box.
This one was conjured up on a particularly bitter night when the little bag of tubers sat imploring me to do something fitting for them before they began to shrivel and lose their shape. A fat bulb of garlic and some threads of tarragon left over from the weekend’s chicken seemed obvious bedfellows, and so it proved. This might be one of the best soups I ever tasted, and damn the consequences.
250g Jerusalem artichokes
1 medium onion
2 fat cloves of garlic
A slice of butter
750ml vegetable stock
250ml milk
Peel and chop the onion and garlic, then fry gently it in the butter.
Peel and roughly cut the artichokes, add them to the onion and continue to fry gently for ten minutes.
Add the vegetable stock and the milk and bring back up to a simmer.
After fifteen minutes or whenever the artichokes are cooked through, blend the soup until smooth.
Serve with a garnish of chopped tarragon and some crusty bread.
Lovely to have the kitchen therapist back again, always a good read.