so, so weird looking, but so, so delicious
It’s true. Sun chokes make me happy. There I said it. There’s a vegetable that makes me happy. Gosh. I tried sun chokes for the first time the other night at a tapas bar in Portsmouth and THEY WERE THE BEST THINGS EVER. It’s pretty rare that I discover a new vegetable that I like, and even more rare is when I discover a vegetable I’ve never even heard of before that I like.
The sun choke (or Jerusalem Artichoke), besides being the most amazing vegetable ever, is actually a species of sunflower. True story. Who knew sun flowers were so delicious? They are the tubular part of the North American flower the girasole. Although sun chokes greatly resemble ginger, in my opinion they taste like the love child of a potato and artichoke heart-which happen to be my two most favorite vegetables.
The sun choke I had at the restaurant was all dressed up with slab bacon, cippolini onions, spinach and a sherry vinaigrette, and it tasted like happiness in my mouth. I was dying to see if I liked the sun choke with out all the fancy dressings (I mean bacon and onions can make anything taste good) and minus the glasses of wine I had at dinner that night, so I decided to try it out for this Sunday’s Sunday Dinner Recipe. *spoiler alert* I liked it just as much with out all the fancy toppings!
How come restaurant food is always so pretty?
Roasted Sun Choke
I really wanted to see if I liked the actual sun choke, or if I just happened to like all the stuff the restaurant put on it, so I decided to pan roast my sun chokes with very little seasoning, so I could experience the true sun choke flavor-which is awesome by the way!
Active time- 35 minutes
Serves-4
INGREDIENTS
- 1 lb sun chokes
- 2 tbsp butter
- 2tbsp EVOO
- salt, pepper, and onion salt
INSTRUCTIONS
- Wash, but do not peel sun chokes
- slice into pieces about 1/4 inch thick. They’re oddly shaped so your slices won’t be perfectly even and that’s ok
- Melt EVOO and butter in a saute pan on stove
- Add sun chokes and season with salt, pepper, and onion salt
- Let sun chokes roast in pan until crispy, stirring occasionally. I found that with medium low heat this took about 30 minutes
- Remove from heat and sprinkle lightly with kosher salt. Serve immediately
- ENJOY
So not only is it a delicious potato/artichoke hybrid, but its incredibly easy to prepare! I can’t wait to experiment with new ways to serve my new favorite veggie! Have you ever tried sun chokes before? How did you serve them?
