Hemulen

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Jerusalem artichoke soup
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Serves 4-5 | Preparation & cooking time 50-60 min

This mild and smooth soup has a sweet; slightly toffee/taffy-like flavor. Jerusalem artichokes (also called sunchokes, sunroots or earth apples) aren't related to artichokes; they are the edible tubers of a sunflower (Helianthus) variety.
Ingredients
50 g/1.76 oz/0.44 sticks butter (30 g for frying, 20 g for herb butter)​
500 g/1.1 lb Jerusalem artichokes​
350 g/0.77 lb shallots​
3-4 cloves of garlic​
1000 ml/4.2 cups beef stock​
2 bay leaves​
zest of 1 lime​
a handful of sage leaves (to taste; 1/2 for soup, 1/2 for herb butter)​
a bunch of parsley (to taste; 2/3 for soup, 1/3 for herb butter)​
1/4 teaspoon white pepper​
300 ml/1.3 cups dry sparkling wine​
salt to taste​
200 ml/0.85 cups double/heavy cream​
5 egg yolks (you can keep the whites in the fridge for up to 2 days)​
4-10 pieces of toasted bread (1-2 per serving)​

Instructions

1.
Rinse, peel and halve the Jerusalem artichokes and keep them in fresh water while preparing the other ingredients.
2. Peel the shallots and garlic and mince them coarsely.
3. Grate the lime zest and rinse and mince the herbs; save a few sage leaves for garnish.
4. Melt about two tablespoons of butter in a large pan on medium-high heat and sauté the shallots and garlic for 3-4 minutes.
5. Add the beef stock, bay leaves, lime zest, minced sage leaves and parsley and a quarter teaspoon of white pepper and bring to boil.
6. Turn on medium-low heat and let simmer for 20-25 minutes; stir occasionally.
7. Add the sparkling wine, bring to boil and let simmer for a further 10 minutes until the Jerusalem artichokes are tender.
8. Take aside, remove the bay leaves (optional) and purée the soup well with a hand blender or mixer.
9. Melt the rest of the butter in a small skillet, take aside, combine the melted butter with the rest of the herbs and season lightly with salt and white pepper.
10. Separate the egg yolks and whisk them with the cream.
11. Bring the puréed soup to boil, take aside and add the egg yolk-cream mix while whisking.
12. Heat the soup up but don’t let it boil.
13. Toast the bread and cut it into pieces.
14. Apportion the soup into bowls, add some toast on top and finish with a few spoonfuls of herb butter and sage leaves.
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I am going to need to find some Jerusalem artichokes...I have seen them used on cooking shows, but have never tried to buy them. This is a really beautiful recipe, Hemulen. Is the sparkling wine the same alcohol-free one you used in your previous recipe? How does this play into the final result? Part of the appeal of alcohol in recipes is the reduction effect when the alcohol boils off. I'm wondering what happens here.

I also know that "alcohol free" often doesn't literally mean 0%: in the States, the law is that it must be below 0.5%, so there is still some to boil off.
 
I am going to need to find some Jerusalem artichokes...I have seen them used on cooking shows, but have never tried to buy them. This is a really beautiful recipe, Hemulen. Is the sparkling wine the same alcohol-free one you used in your previous recipe? How does this play into the final result? Part of the appeal of alcohol in recipes is the reduction effect when the alcohol boils off. I'm wondering what happens here.

I also know that "alcohol free" often doesn't literally mean 0%: in the States, the law is that it must be below 0.5%, so there is still some to boil off.
Yeah, I bought two 200 ml bottles a few days ago so I used the rest in this soup. I don't think that the non-alc fact (0.0% in this dry Henkell sparkling wine) affects the "reduction effect" that much - it's just kind of done in advance. The sparkles fade while simmering, so the wine can be added at a later stage if you like more fizz. Dry white wine (reduced by simmering) would probably work even better in this soup. I just happened to have this sparkling wine at hand. Texture-wise, the (thickening) egg yolk-cream mix has a more important role in this soup.
 
A beautiful looking soup. I adore Jerusalem artichokes. Peeling them is a chore though, so I often simply scrub them.

I'm curious about the use of beef stock here. I'd have thought the beefy taste might eclipse the delicate artichoke. Also, the soup is a beautiful pale colour considering you used beef stock.

That first photo is great!
 
A beautiful looking soup. I adore Jerusalem artichokes. Peeling them is a chore though, so I often simply scrub them.

I'm curious about the use of beef stock here. I'd have thought the beefy taste might eclipse the delicate artichoke. Also, the soup is a beautiful pale colour considering you used beef stock.

That first photo is great!
Thank you. The Jerusalem artichokes I used were sizable, pleasantly round and even so they were easy to peel with a potato peeler (a stationary one like in the pic).
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I didn't use regular beef stock (nor my own, frozen consommé) but clear beef stock cubes* (consommé/semi-consommé) which produce a clear broth/stock. I use them in soups on a regular basis. I'd say the mild and subtle, potato-nut-toffee type flavor of Jerusalem artichokes was clearly noticable, although the taste of sautéed and cooked shallots is rather prominent and sweet as well. The soup might have been a bit bland with just veggies/greens, water, egg yolks and cream as there wasn't any bacon or other savo(u)ry topping involved 🤔.
*
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I didn't use regular beef stock (nor my own, frozen consommé) but clear beef stock cubes* (consommé/semi-consommé) which produce a clear broth/stock.
Ah - now I understand. I'm not sure that type of stock cube is available here.

. The soup might have been a bit bland with just veggies/greens, water, egg yolks and cream as there wasn't any bacon or other savo(u)ry topping involved 🤔.

No need for bacon in my book - I love the subtle flavour


I think I might have to try this out....we have more jerusalem artichokes on our allotment than we know what to do with.....they're very invasive!

Somewhere I might have artichoke recipes on the forum. I'll search...
 
I think I might have to try this out....we have more jerusalem artichokes on our allotment than we know what to do with.....they're very invasive!

If only the weeds in my back yard were like that: if clearing them meant that I got to make a meal out of it, I would be much more motivated to do it!
 
Hemulen
OMG!!! A beautiful recipe. I love Jerusalem Artichokes. Mom grows them along the fence line of her flower beds. They provide a lovely back drop, are pretty to look at and delicious to eat. Question - does cooking in a soup reduce the gassy nature of the Chokes?
I do love the flavor of Jerusalem Artichokes.
 
Hemulen
OMG!!! A beautiful recipe. I love Jerusalem Artichokes. Mom grows them along the fence line of her flower beds. They provide a lovely back drop, are pretty to look at and delicious to eat. Question - does cooking in a soup reduce the gassy nature of the Chokes?
I do love the flavor of Jerusalem Artichokes.
<Brrump, pffthweep, brrap-app-app-app-phyuu>. What was the question? Oh, hmm..., I don't think the cooking reduced the gassy nature that much.
 
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