Jerusalem Artichoke soup

[Katya]

Name of Recipe: Jerusalem Artichoke soup
Number of People: 4
Ingredients:

1 medium onion
400 g Jerusalem Artichokes
10 g butter
20 g olive oil
Vegetable stock (about 500 g)
100 g milk
Nutmeg (for grating)

Preparation:

Prepare the artichokes :EITHER  if they are thin-skinned, you just need to clean them and cut them into small pieces (c. 2 cm)
                                 OR        if they are thick-skinned, they will need peeling and then cutting into small pieces (c.2 cm)

Peel the onion and cut it into quarters.  Place it in TMX with the olive oil and butter - Chop at speed 5 for 5 secs.  Cook for 4 minutes  at Varoma speed 2

Add the artichokes and cook for 1 minute at 100^o speed 2

Add stock to the 1 litre mark and cook for 12 minutes at 100^o speed 1.  Check artichokes are soft.  If not, cook for a few minutes more. 

Add milk and blend at speed 9 for 45 seconds.   

Serve in bowls with a sprinkling of freshly grated nutmeg on top.



Tips/Hints:

I don't add any extra salt as my stock is quite salty, but if required you could add salt and pepper when adding the stock.

[Thermomixer]

Congratulations Katya.  Good little recipe.  I find it easier to chop the onions without the butter and oil - anyone like to comment?

Just find the onion is less likely to drop back and get chopped without the oil in there - I know there are recipes in the books that say to add oil/butter first - am I different?

[Katya]

I take your point Thermomixer.   Some recipes say add the oil/butter after chopping and some do it together as I have done here.

To my (illogical) way of thinking, I reckon that if you put the oil/butter in when it's chopping, it gets amalgamated and therefore the cooking process is better, and I haven't had a problem with it not chopping.  But I'm open to change.... and certainly with the TMX, there's more than one way to swing a cat (or chop an onion!)

[Thermomixer]

As long as you don't use the Thermomix to swing the cat.  It is harder not to have the TMX chop things   
Soup again dear?

[Katya]

Howzabout swinging the onion? 

[Cuilidh]

I've just been given some Jerusalem Artichokes and have never cooked them before.  Katya what was this soup like?  Presumably it is tasty or you wouldn't have posted the recipe ...??  What do JAs taste like?

[Bonsai]

I haven't had Jerusalem Artichokes for ages (did grow them once) and they're not a common sight in the shops. They taste quite mild - more potato-like but nuttier, quite different from a swede/turnip type of taste. Give it a try!

[Cornish Cream]

I love artichokes but a word of warning they can give you flatulence Marina I think they have the flavour of bacon but that maybe my dodgy taste buds. Easy to grow but can become invasive in the garden.

[shiverama]

"Which way soever they be dressed and eaten, they stir and cause a filthy loathsome stinking wind within the body, thereby causing the belly to be pained and tormented, and are a meat more fit for swine than men", They are not called fartichokes for nothing!!!