I am so excited to tell you about this amazing new discovery I made!
Sunchokes are amazing!
I didn’t even know what a sunchoke was until recently and I am absolutely smitten with them. It caught me off guard. I just love it when that happens. I love it when I try a totally new flavor that I wasn’t expecting. It happened with black currant. It happened with lychee. It happened again with sunchokes.
They are also called Jerusalem Artichokes. They are not related at all to artichokes or Jerusalem and they are knobby little ugly roots that look like this:
They have the most amazing sweet, nutty flavor. They almost remind me of browned butter. They are just so rich and decadent. They are in season October through March. You may have to hunt a little to find them. I found mine at Whole Foods, but I have seen them at a couple other stores. If you ever see them at the store, don’t hesitate to snatch some up.
I’m sure they are delicious roasted, in a soup, or on a salad, but I decided to puree mine with some leeks and use it as spread for a veggie sandwich on thick sourdough bread. Heaven. So stinkin good. I can’t stop thinking about this sandwich. There was enough puree for two sandwiches, but I had pretty big slices of bread. You could double the sunchokes, leeks, thyme, and veggie broth if you wanted to make more sandwiches or just have some of this decadent puree for later. I ended up making one big sandwich for me and my baby girl polished off the rest of the sunchoke puree. She went absolutely crazy over it. She kept licking her lips and saying “mmmmmm”. It’s so fun to watch her try new flavors. And fun to try them myself!
Ingredients:
- 1/2 C. roughly chopped sunchokes, washed (no need to peel)
- 1/4 C. finely chopped leeks (the white part before the leaves split and get tough)
- 1/4 tsp. dried thyme
- 1/2 C. veggie stock
- 1/2 C. water
- more water as needed (or more veggie broth)
- salt and pepper to taste
- a small drizzle of olive oil
- sliced mushrooms
- parmesan cheese
- sliced tomatoes
- spinach
- green bell pepper, thinly sliced
- sourdough bread
- a small bit of butter
Directions:
1. Chop the sunchokes and leeks and place them in a skillet with the thyme, veggie broth, and 1/2 cup water. Cook over medium heat until they start to soften. Add water or more broth if the pan starts to dry out. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the sunchokes are soft and can be easily poked with a fork. Salt and pepper to taste.
2. Transfer the sunchoke mixture to a blender or food processor and blend until just smooth. Its ok if it is a little bit chunky. Set aside.
3. In the same pan, cook the olive oil and enough mushrooms to make a generous layer on each sandwich. Cook until soft. Set aside.
4. Assemble sandwich by spreading the sunchoke puree on two pieces of bread. Sprinkle the parmesan cheese on top of the sunchokes. (You may see some pine nuts in the picture. I didn’t include them in the recipe because they disappeared in the sandwich and you couldn’t even taste them.)
On one side of the bread, pile on the sliced tomatoes, bell pepper, cooked mushrooms, and spinach. Be generous with the tomatoes. Their acidity pairs really nicely with the richness of the sunchokes.
Place the second slice of bread on top, puree side down.
5. Heat a small bit of butter in the pan over medium low. Once it has melted place your sandwich in the pan and spread a little bit more butter on the top of the sandwich. Cook until the bread is crispy and golden. Flip sandwich and continue to cook until the second side is crispy and golden, too. Press down the sandwich with the spatula a couple times throughout cooking.
6. Slice in half and savor the wonderful flavor of sunchokes!
Here are some more sunchoke recipes that I found on the good old blogosphere:
I hope you know that NOTHING I have ever made looks as good as even one of your pictures. Nothing. Wishing I were in your kitchen…