I was lucky enough to get a huge bag of Jerusalem Artichokes straight from my friend vegetable patch. I wanted to challenge myself and see what all I can make, starting with a simple dish like a soup. I drew ideas from various chefs that I follow and put a little bit of me in it.
The idea for the toppings came from Chef Chantelle Nicolson. I can tell you this though, the granola is sublime!!
Bon Appetit!
You’ll need
- You will need for the soup :
- 500g x Jerusalem artichoke, scrubbed clean well and diced into 2cm cubes
- 250g x floury potatoes, peeled and diced in 2cm cubes
- 1 x onion, diced finely
- 125g x unsalted butter
- 1lt x chicken or vegetable stock
- 1 bay leaf
- 300ml x double cream (optional)
- Salt and black pepper to taste
- You will need for the pears :
- 2 x pears, peeled, cored and cut into quarters
- 1 tbsp of olive oil
- Maldon salt
- For the granola :
- 1 tsp x rosemary, finely chopped
- 40g x walnuts, chopped
- 40g x oats
- 20g x of butter
- ½ tsp x sea salt
- To plate :
- Walnut oil
- Chopped or micro parsley
Method
- Preheat an oven to 180°C. Before you start with the soup, you need to get going with the toppings.
- Place the peeled, cored and quartered pears into a foil-lined roasting tin, drizzle with olive oil and salt and bake for 30 minutes.
- For the granola, place all the ingredients in a roasting tray and bake for 5 minutes. Mix well and bake for a further 10 minutes or until golden brown. Remove and set aside to cool.
- For the soup - In a heavy-based saucepan over medium heat, melt 100g of the butter.
- Add the onion and cook until translucent, add the artichokes and potato. Stir to combine, add the bay leave and cook for 10 minutes with lid on, stirring regularly until the potatoes start to soften.
- Add the stock and leave to simmer until the vegetables are soft, remove the bay leave. Pour into you blender and blend until smooth. Pass through a sieve back into your saucepan.
- Add the remaining butter and stir until melted.
- At this stage you can add the cream if you want a creamier soup.
- Season to taste with salt and a decent amount of black pepper.
- To serve. Cube all the pears into bite-size pieces except for 4 x quarters. Place the cubed pears into a little tower in the centre of your bowls.
- Divide the soup between the bowls, drizzle with a little walnut oil.
- Place a quarter slice pear on top of the cubed pears and add about 2 Tbsp granola over the pears.
- A final scattering of chopped parsley and you are ready to serve.