I was first introduced to sunchokes, otherwise known as Jerusalem artichokes, when I was living in France. Over there, these artichoke-tasting little roots are called “topinambours” and they are often made into a puree or a creamy soup. In this one, I add a fresh rocket hazelnut pesto, which I sort of hijacked from Yotam Ottolenghi’s cookbook. The only labor-intensive part of this recipe is to actually peel the sunchokes, the rest is dead easy and it makes for such an elegant side dish for grilled white fish, duck breasts or a nice piece of beef. If you want a vegetarian version, just top it off with a mix of sauteed mushrooms. You could also add extra milk and turn into a soup that you serve in little ramekins as an appetizer. The possibilities are endless….
Note: Although sunchokes are filled with nutrients, they do contain inulin, so wouldn’t be suitable for people following a low FODMAP diet (such as I…) unless you decide to cheat!
Ingredients (serves 4 as a side dish)
- 1 kg of sunchokes
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1/3 cup of grassfed butter or ghee
- 1 1/2 cup of milk – depending on the consistency you are looking for
- salt, pepper
Rocket pesto
- 2 cups of rocket
- 1/4 cup of hazelnuts
- 1/4 cup of olive oil
- juice of half a lemon
- salt, pepper
Instructions
- Cook the sunchokes in salted boiling water until very tender
- Drain sunchokes and put them in cold water with lemon juice to keep them from turning dark
- In a blender, blend the sunchokes with butter, adding milk gradually until you get the consistency you want for the puree. It should be slightly creamier than mashed potatoes if you are serving it as a side dish. If you want to serve it in little shot glasses as an appetizer, it should have the consistency of a milkshake.
- Add salt and pepper
- Set aside while you make the rocket pesto
- Blend all the pesto ingredients until slightly less than perfectly smooth – I like it when you can still see the chopped herbs
- Serve the puree and top with 1 tbsp of pesto
